


The Four Realms: Ghoul

by LargestLobster1337



Series: The Four Realms [1]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, Betrayal, Biblical References, Childhood Trauma, Demons, F/F, F/M, Ghouls, Im drunk when I write, Juuzou and Kaneki are brothers, M/M, Monsters, Multiverse, Shared Universe, abstract mythology, death and tradgedy, immpending doom, seraphs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2020-10-17 12:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 42,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20620937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LargestLobster1337/pseuds/LargestLobster1337
Summary: “There are essentially just two things that make up your reality. What you see and what you don’t. Just because you choose not to comprehend the coming events wont save you from the pain that is caused by them.”





	1. Drude

"Ooooohhhh!" Squeals Katie in her usual high pitched voice, making John and Pearl simultaneously wince and press on their ear pieces out of instinct. "I love this song! Can't we wait a few more minutes?" 

Please no. John thinks to himself, having no interest in the music. While he does understand a good deal of German, the man screaming like a idiot into the microphone repulses him.   
Cmon Marcus, give the order all ready! 

"Sorry Katie." says marcus and John breaths a sigh of relief. "Garuda six, Garuda two, In ten seconds I'll activate the gas, get to the stage now, keep Alarik in your sights Garuda four." 

Katie, Garuda four, lets out a clearly disappointed sigh before grunting out, "Yeah yeah I got it." John eyes the small drone above the outdoor concert, barely visible in the darkness. You would never see it unless you were looking for it, and maybe not even then. 

John, also known as Garuda six, and Pearl, also known as Garuda two, push their way through the drunken crowd, slowly moving thought the mosh pit toward the front of the stage. Once they accomplish this simple task they half heartedly start bumping into each other and the other attendees around them, attempting to blend in to the best of their abilities. John, does his best to focus despite the screaming crowd and the terrible singer, mapping out his next ten moves. He has to beat pearl if he wants to go back to his favorite Restaurant. 

"The gas is leaking now, wait for it to fog." Garuda one, Marcus, chimes in. John reaches for the holstered 1911 he has concealed against his hip bone, noticing Pearl do the same, eyeing him for a moment before turning her attention to the guards in between the guard rail and the stage. "Three seconds." Marcus chimes in again, and John picks his first target. 

The RC suppression gas is strategically placed inside three mock speakers on the stage to make it look like a pyrotechnics malfunction typical for these types of outdoor concerts. The plan is to release the smoke, kill the guards, and grab the ghoul, Alarkin, also known as Drude, a C-rated ghoul who on his own isn't a worthy target for Garuda team. But this isn't an assassination. 

"Three... two.... go!" Marcus commands, and John immediately leaps into action, pushing a drunken bystander out of his way before drawing his weapon and dispatching the three guards with three headshots immediately after his draw. After he visually confirms that Pearl dealt with the two on her side of the stage he sprints forward, using his hand to safely propel himself over the metal, waist high barrier and clambering onto the stage where a very confused Alarkin stands facing away from him, wondering where the smoke is coming from. 

John sticks the quinque coated needle into the ghouls neck, injecting a long lasting RC suppressant into Drude’s bloodstream before wrapping his arm tightly around his throat and dragging him off the stage, the crowd was very confused by the entire situation, looking at John as if he may be part of the show. A unregistered, black truck accelerates over the hill and skids to a halt next to the stage, where John pushes the ghoul into the back seat before scooting in himself. 

"Hurry up Garuda two!" John yells as Pearl pushes her way through the crowd and sprinting towards the unmarked truck, claiming the passenger side seat in-front of John, barely having enough time to sit before the driver, Aleksei, puts the petal to the metal and swings the Truck around, creating a cloud of dirt before taking off back over the hill, leaving the crowd to process the situation. 

"Who won this time?" Aleksei asks the two of them and receiving a huff from Pearl that answers his question. "Its eleven to six." He teases in a thick Russian accent "Are you even trying?" 

"I'm getting old." She says half heartedly "Im almost thirty! These old bones just ain't what they used to be." John doesn't say anything, but gives a little smirk before training his attention on the frightened ghoul beside him, Johns weapon locked on his target. 

Garuda team, a team of soldiers handpicked from around the globe, tasked with whatever their employers ask of them, be it assassination, infiltration, sabotage, doesn't matter. Garuda team will get the job done, for a price. In this case its three million dollars to be split across the team. Of course, there's a lot of expenses to be paid, the tech team, the flight team, the suppliers, the intelligence teams, and the guard they bribed to stash the weapons for them at the concert. But Johns more then happy about the ten thousand dollars he will be receiving for this assignment, a job from his former employers at the CCG to extract Drude, a task that required no more then a couple hours of Johns time. 

"So Garuda six..." Pearl's english accent rings out through the silence, catching John's attention. "Same place as last time?" 

"Yeah." John says, keeping his weapon trained on the ghoul, noticing the fingers of his captive twitching with frustration brought on by his inability to activate his Kagune. "Tomorrow at five." 

"Alright, I guess I can pick up that doll I saw after." Pearl adds, a nice doll wearing a pink skirt Pearl swears would be perfect for her daughter, John agreed.

The team tends to keep their conversations as vague as possible when in the presence of a captive, the reasons are obvious. They're tired, but no one dares to doze off on the drive over to Rammstien Air Force base, where a familiar face greets John. Kim Martinez, a African American, born and raised in California, only to immigrate to Japan when her deceased father was able to get steady work as a actor. She was strong, assertive, and very observant, almost like a mother.

"Good to see you again Garuda team." Kim greets, giving John a little half smile like she always does when she sees him. They met at the CCG's ghoul investigator training academy together two years back when John was sixteen and Kim was seventeen. They quickly formed a close bond, them being the only two Americans. Johns connections to the CCG were clear, his mother was formerly a investigator before immigrating to the states after meeting John's father. After his parents died when John was fifteen, John moved in with his uncle, Shinohara, who is still a investigator. 

"Investigator Martinez, nice to see you again." John greets the girl, earning a eyeroll. 

"Whats the matter Garuda six, trying to impress the perp by using formalities?" 

"Heh." John grunts as he watches the newly restrained ghoul being escorted onto the C-17 that will take him to Japan. Once the ghoul is out of earshot they drop the formalities. "Why not just have KSK pick him up? Would've cost less." 

"KSK would've tipped him off." Kim says, walking along John to the the smaller, civilian style jet that will take them home. "We have reason to think a few of their captains were working with him." 

"Oh? And what reason would that be?" John asks, not expecting a answer, Kim may be a close personal friend, but the CCG still has it's secrets. 

"A few weapons found it the eleventh ward were traced back to the German military, Its not much but it's something." Kim says, offering only the most vague amount of information but and brushing a strand of black hair out of her eyes. "You know, we should go out again, I can call the guys and we can watch a movie or something.... it's on the house." 

You own the theater John thinks to himself. He never understood why Kim would subject herself to the dangers that ghoul hunting comes with. She has more money then she could spend in a lifetime. She owns several businesses including a bar, a few restaurants, and John's favorite theater, the first Japanese theater he'd ever been to. He still doesn't understand why they would debut with an American movie, Battleship, which John found subpar. 

"Or are you still avoiding Suzuya?" Kim chimes in, a teasing smirk that makes John roll his eyes and pout. 

"Im not avoiding him." John answers, putting his hand behind his neck. "I've just been too busy to see him." 

"Right....Well, you're not gonna be busy for a while, the CCG bought you out today." Kim says with a smirk. John didn't even know the CCG was still negotiating with Garuda. "Looks like we'll be seeing each other more often one way or another. I'm going up north for a few days, but after that we'll get the gang together and have some fun." 

"Suzuya doesn't exactly share my sense of fun." John groans, but Kim has already decided. 

"See you around John."   
————————————————— 

"Marcus..." John greets the African American squad leader while taking a seat on the plane next to him. "I heard we’re running full time with the CCG, is that true?" 

"Looks that way John." Marcus says. "But you're asking why right? You'll have to take that up with Locke." 

Jasmine Locke, the owner and founder of HIVE, Garuda teams parent company. She oversees all the operations and takes care of logistics. At the ripe age of sixty she's a bit too old for field ops, but make no mistake, she's dangerous. Rumor has it she was the kind of special forces that the C.I.A would check under their beds for if they knew they existed. She's quiet, intelligent, vastly mysterious, and at the same time very kind, John is very fond of her, and would die if she ordered him to. 

"But..." Marcus continues, putting his phone away to look at John. "If I had to guess, it would have something to do with those Immortals. They've been causing hell for the CCG in the last few months." 

"They got tired of sweeping them under the rug?" 

"Not yet, that's why they came to us and not the GSDF." 

"Hmm." John grunts, taking in the information. He understands to reasoning behind keeping the immortals secret, but doesn't agree with it. The people of Japan should know just how dangerous those beasts really are, John thinks silently. "So, what are the odds of us operating within Japans borders?" 

"I would expect it." Marcus answers without hesitation. "I doubt we'll be conducting any large scale operations though, not on our own at least."

Marcus is a former S.E.A.L team captain, he knows how these things work. Took part in secret wars all over the globe, from Africa and Iraq to New Jersey and Vancouver, all those operations covered up. All that evidence destroyed. "Don't slack  
on your training John, despite what your friend said, I have a feeling we'll be busier then she's letting on." 

"Yeah." Agrees john, letting his head rest again the seat of the plane. He fell asleep at some point, waking up when Marcus shook his shoulder, alerting him that they've landed. John simply got up, got a taxi, went home, and immediately went to bed, only taking his shoes off before immediately falling asleep on his king sized bed. He awoke some hours later, it was now two in the afternoon, John had to get ready if he still intended to meet Pearl by five. He his clothes and newly dirtied sheets into the wash before taking a long, hot shower, scrubbing the dirt and sweat caked on him from the concert the day before. Once he feels nice and clean, John turns off the water and waves his hand under the nozzle three times , making a little "hmpp" noise each time. Jon has never officially been diagnosed with OCD, but he's sure he has a mild case. On his way out the door he notices a familiar face staring at him through the window, he couldn't resist it. 

"How you doing Garfield?" John asks the orange feline as he opens up his living room window, scratching the cat behind the neck. If he wasn't short on time, John definitely would have snatched the cat up and showered him in affection for a few hours. But today, a simple greeting will suffice. "Next time buddy." 

John shoos the cat away before closing and locking the window, triple checking the lock before exiting his second floor apartment and making his way down the staircase, making sure not to make noise and alert his neighbor to his presence. 

If she sees me it'll take all day to get rid of her. John thinks to himself as he tiptoes past his neighbors door, making his way into the parking structure across the street. John drives a black, 2007 Chevrolet Camaro. John loves it for a simple reason, it's two doored, meaning John will never be called upon to drive his drunk friends home at three in the morning. It's not that Johns anti-social, he likes his small group of friends outside of Garuda team, but they can be a bit overwhelming at times. Or maybe its just Suzuya, John thinks. 

Takandanobaba, a name that took quite awhile for John to learn to pronounce. A commuter hotspot right outside of Tokyo, making it hell during rush hour, but calm at any other time. Its home to John's favorite restaurant Bunryu, a quiet little restaurant in what looks to be a basement setting. The food is nice, Italian based, and the coffee is good. The atmosphere is laid back, the theme is chill, a place john can relax without checking over his shoulder every few seconds due to paranoia. 

John doesn't know the waitress that greets him and chalks it up to her being new. It's been three weeks since the last time he's visited after all. "Im meeting someone." John says to the waitress in Japanese, his American accent still prominent on his voice. "Thats her, right over there." 

The waitress escorts john to the table, where he takes the seat facing the door, just like he always does. "Can I start you off with any drinks?" The waitress asks. 

"A black coffee, please." John says barely loud enough for the waitress to hear. She takes a moment to digest his order before bowing and walking away, leaving the two alone. John look over the menu and Pearl watches him, letting out a giggle that makes John glance up. "What?" 

"We both know you're just gonna get the same thing you always do. The pasta right?" Pearl says, tucking a strand of her natural blonde hair behind her ear. She's so calm John thinks. He admires her ability to take the edge off and let her mind find peace. She can wear high heels, a bright red pencil skirt and a matching Red jacket and not feel like she's at risk by wearing such uncomfortable clothing. Meanwhile John can't leave the house if one of his socks shrunk in the wash and is now too tight. 

"It's actually a fettuccine chicken alfredo." John says, noticing the waitress come back with his coffee. She takes their orders, John ordering the fettuccine Chicken alfredo whilst pearl orders a tortellini, changing it up from the pici she had last time they visited. The waitress writes there orders down in her little pocket notebook before bowing and heading back to the kitchen.   
John and Pearl make small talk, something John isn't very good at but Pearl doesn't seem to mind the one word answers to her various questions. 

"Do you watch game of thrones?" 

"No." 

"Have you read the books?" 

"No." 

"Well... why not?" 

"Haven't had time." 

Just ask what you're gonna ask. John thinks to himself while sipping on his piping hot coffee, used to the bitterness. Pearl has a habit of asking ancillary questions, thinking that she was coaxing John out of his metaphorical shell. The reallity is much simpler, John doesn't have much to say. He doesn't watch much T.V. and rarely reads, and when he does read it's never stories, its news articles from around the world. John has three tasks in his present life. Work, train, and recover. Thats it, and this little outing belongs to the recovery folder. 

John notices Pearls tell-tale lower lip twitch, indicating that she's gotten past her pretext questions and is getting to her main points. "Are you excited to be working with the C.C.G again?" She asks before taking a sip  
Of her iced tea. "You were a investigator or something like that weren't you?" 

"Something like that..." John says and then gives a half grin, finally interested in the topic. "I was pulled out of the academy and placed in a special extermination squad, led by Kishou Arima." 

"Why'd you say his name like that?" Pearl asks raising a eyebrow at the man across from her, his hands never leaving his coffee cup. 

"Like what?" 

"Like I'm gonna be hearing it more often?" Pearl specifies, rolling her bright blue eyes because she knows John knew what she meant. "Is he one of the higher ups?" 

"He's a legend in the field, single handedly changing the tide of large scale operations. They call him the white reaper." John says before taking another sip of coffee. Pearl tilts her head slightly, intrigued by this Arima character. 

"So he's good?" Pearl asks for clarification and John nods, his brown eyes meeting her blue ones. 

"He's one of two people to make the rank of 2nd class investigator in under a year." John says, gulping down the rest of his coffee before placing the empty mug at the end of the table, a signal for the waitress to refill it. 

"Who's the other one?" Pearl asks, watching the waitress pour the coffee into John cup. They both thank the waitress, who bows and walks away before Pearl repeats her question. "So who? Do you know them?" 

"Im the other one, I thought you knew that?" John says as if it was common information despite never going into detail about his past endeavors, professional or otherwise. "He's the reason I was promoted so quickly." 

"I had no Idea you were so.... decorated." Pearl admits, letting a quiet chuckle leave her lush lips. "I still think of you as that quite kid who had trouble driving in the rain." She says, and John chuckles along side her. 

They get their dinner, and eat it quietly, neither of them enjoy talking with a full mouth. They make sure to give the waitress a healthy tip before leaving, making their way next door and finding that Raggedy Anne doll for Pearls Daughter, Michelle. Pearl was excited to get home and give her daughter her present, saying goodbye to John after he walks her to her car, earning a ride back to his. 

John makes his way back to his apartment, turning on the radio but paying no attention to it. Once home John realized he had nothing else to do today, and allowed himself to be indulged, firing up the T.V and watching a movie about a cannibal college student. At some point during the movie he fell asleep, being awoken by the buzz of his cellphone on the nightstand next to him. He grabs the phone and checks the message banner displayed on his screen. 

'Meeting at C.C.G HQ in four days, lets carpool. - Locke'


	2. Boy

"Jesus..." Investigator Amida Sato gasps after being escorted into the crime scene. The blood from the bodies inside the convenience store had pooled so much that it had split out into the street. "I hate blood." 

Kim Martinez couldn't help but snicker at the mans phobia. "You picked the wrong line of work then Sato." She chuckles out as she slides on a hazmat suit and secures a gas mask onto her face. "Can you hear me with this thing on?" She asks and the mad nods, changing into his own hazmat suit. 

The team of two has been assigned to collaborate with the local police in the small city of Otaru, a part of the Hokkaido region. A A-rated ghoul by the name of bluegill has been sighted in the area, and has killed four of the local CCG agents, prompting the necessity to request help from the main office in Tokyo. 

_ This doesn't add up _ . Kim thinks to herself as she surveyed the area inside the convenience store, the six mangled bodies scattered around. She focuses on the cashier behind the counter, noticing the horizontal Gashes usually left by a Ukaku type kagune, and while Bluegill may be a ukaku type, the crime lacks the tell-tale M.O. the ghoul usually has. This looks like a random crime. Kim notes to herself mentally, examining the chunks of flesh missing out of the cashiers neck, arms and legs. 

"Kim..." Sato chimes out, prompting the African American investigator to stand from her crouching position and walk to his location. The man is examining the body of a forty something year old woman, a massive chunk of meat missing from her left calf. "Something feels off about this, the man says, taking deep breaths to compensate for his phobia of blood. "Isn't this a bit too clean?" 

Kagune aren't slick like swords or knives, they're barbed, and tend to take out chunks of meat when they come into contact with human flesh. "You're right..." Kim says and the man nods. "Also, this crime appears to be random, could it be another binge eater?" 

"That was my first thought....." Sato agrees but with an obvious follow up question. "But this calf wasn't bitten off .... it was sliced... with a knife. Why would a binge eater do that? Is he saving it for later?" 

Kim takes a moment to think over the facts, all the bodies have portions of there flesh cut out. "No.." Kim disagrees. "He's selling the meat, probably to some underworld cannibal cult.... that's my guess anyways." 

Sato closes his eyes to digest the information, mentally putting the puzzle pieces in place. _ He's such a dork, _ Kim thinks to herself, admiring the queasy man. They had been partners for almost a year now, and Kim's grown to respect the man despite his shortcomings. He was never the strongest or bravest, and sure as hell not the smartest, but he was a genuine person who cares for those around him, and that was good enough for Kim.... plus he tends to drive to save himself from Kim's horrible road rage. 

Kim turns her attention to one of the officers aiding in the investigation, asking him if the security cameras were rolling during the attack. The officer explains that the security tapes for 

the convenience store were stolen, and that the only recording of the event is from a street camera down the road. The officer leaves to fetch the evidence in order for Kim to review it later before turning it into the CCG. The police and CCG only seem to work together on small, local cases like this one initially looked to be. Kim has a feeling this case is going to turn national very shortly. 

"There he is!" Sato cries out and points to the figure entering the convenience store in the grainy footage. The figure stood at about six feet tall, donning a robe..... that's it. "Ahh! This is useless to us! All we know is that he owns a fucking robe!" 

_ Shit, he's right _ . Kim thinks to herself as she plays back the two scenes that show the figure as it enters and exits the convenience store. The robe shows no markings, amulets, beads, not even any pockets, and the fact that the film is in black and white robs the investigators of determining its color or fabric. "Thank you officers." Kim says and bows to the police, always a respectful one. A lot of investigators tend to hold an ego just because they're in a higher position of power, Kim doesn't like that, she shows respect and nine times out of ten it's reciprocated. The officers returned the gesture, bowing to the dark skin investigator before leaving the back of the Police evidence van. The investigators set up evidence markers, take polaroid photos of the crime scene, and prepare for the local police sergeant to make an appearance. 

The police sergeant was an older gentleman wearing a clean pressed and well fitted police uniform, his eyes darted around constantly due to years of observation. He's not from Hokkaido Kim deduces from the clarity painted on the mans face. The other cops seem anxious, and disgusted by the brutality of the crime scene. But the sergeant wasn't phased, a long career of horrors lining the streets of his past. The man scratched his balding head before placing a hat upon it to protect himself from the sun's radioactive rays. 

"Sergeant Wada...." Kim greets the man as she and Sato bows, earning a half hearted bow and a grunt from the larger man. "Please, follow me." She says as she leads the man into the police van, taking a seat at the sole table littered with photographs and information. The man quietly reviews the information, looking over each photograph and comparing the bodies of Bluegill's usual victims with the bodies of the present crime scene. Kim decides to speak. 

"As you can tell..." Kim starts, sitting straight in her chair. "None of these victims were drowned to death like Bluegill's usual victims." 

"None of them are fishermen either." Sato adds before sneaking a smirk at Kim, his hazel eyes meeting her green ones his tongue pokes out from his lips. "Ah but I'm sure you know that sir." 

"Im aware..." the man says before dropping the pictures back onto the table. "What I don't understand is why here? Hokkaido has no ties to any large ghoul organizations." Kim raises an eyebrow and the man explains his point. "Look, when I was in Kamurocho there were a few small ghoul families mixed in with the usual Yakuza and Triad groups. The way those ghoul families would get recognition is with offerings, they'd hit a specific target and bring cuts of flesh back to whoever ordered them to do it. That's how smaller ghoul families join larger groups like Aogiri or the Black Hands. But this isn't a target they're usually asked to hit."

Sato raises his hand as if he's a child asking a teacher a question. The old sergeant rolls his eyes but nods. "Are you saying this was just a random event?" The man asks and puts his hands down. Kim snickers at the man and he shoots her a glare. 

Kim explains. "He's saying whoever did this doesn't know how things work yet." 

"She's right..." the old man says and Sato pouts. "And that means they're from out of country. But..." the man says before falling silent, thinking to himself. "But that means they're either a small immigrant family, or they're a larger group trying to cement themselves into Japan." 

"My gut is telling me that this is a cult offering...." Kim says, and pushes a few photographs towards the older man. "You see how clean those slices are? That's not from a kagune." 

"A sacrificial blade?" The man surmises. "That explains why it was necessary to wear a robe like that out in public." The man then gets to his feet and makes his way out of the van, leaving Sato and Kim perplexed. "Good work today Investigators, he says before reaching into his pocket and handing both of them a business card. "You're both young so I'm gonnatell you a secret. Your superiors are gonna keep you in the dark about this, I suggest you return the favor." And just like that he walks out of the van. 

Both Kim and Sato agree that the man's message was... cryptic to say the least, and as Sato was simply able to let it go, Kim couldn't. 

_ Maybe this is why they bought out Garuda team _ . Kim thinks to herself. Her initial concern was Aogiri, but now she's concerned that it may be something even bigger. A secret even large enough to rival her own. She grabs her phone and calls Associate special class Yukinori Shinohara, the man who gave her the blue gill case. 

"Martinez!" the man greets in his usual happy tone. "What do you have for me?" 

Kim considers telling him the truth, she trusts Shinohara, but perhaps he's holding information out on her, or maybe it reaches higher up the federal ladder then even an associate special class can reach. _ Sorry Yukinori, but I can't risk it _ .

"Unfortunately, not much. But this doesn't look like the work Bluegill typically does." She lies with ease, after a few lifetimes of practice it's become way too easy. 

"You're saying there's a second binge eater in Hokkaido? I heard there's six victims." 

"There are..." Kim says. "But it doesn't look like much eating was done, besides a few nibbles that is." 

" so...." Shinohara drones on, a bit of apprehension in his tone. "What's your deduction?" 

"It was an Impulse killing." She lies. 

"I thought so..." the man sighs, and she can hear the exhaustion in his voice. "Thank the Police on behalf of the CCG. Then come home with the evidence, we'll try to find something to cross reference it with." 

"Understood sir." She says before the call disconnects, and she stuffs her phone into her pocket. Leaving the air conditioning of the police van to join Sato in her car. She gets into the passenger seat, and the man stares at her with anticipation. "Before you ask, no." 

"Huh!..." the man gasps in confusion. "Why not! You can't just withhold evidence like that!" The man argues, but stops once Kim shoots him a threatening glare. "What should I tell him if he asks me?" 

"It's an Impulse killing.... that's all." 

"What about the pictures?" The man asks, obvious trepidation in his tone. "And what about that sergeant? Won't he say something in his statement?" 

"I won't give them any important pictures...." Kim says calmly. "And that sergeants too smart to say something stupid." Sato takes a deep breath but turns the car on, making their way towards the airport. However, after a few minutes, the radio scanner breaks the silent car ride. 

The female voice of the police dispatcher cries out. "Small explosion reported in an alleyway near buffet NANDA on sappor-shi. Any units in the area confirm?" 

Whether it was paranoia or intuition, the feeling hits her like a sledgehammer."Pull over!" Kim orders and Sato obliges, pulling the car to the side of the road while kim turns up the scanners volume. They wait patiently for any new information, ready to leap into action should the need arise. 

The dispatchers voice rings out again. "We're getting calls of a teenager in a skintight suit engaging with a ghoul in a robe, can anyone confirm?" 

_ A skintight suit? Fighting a ghoul? _ Kim replays in her head, as the pieces start falling into place. Impossible. Sato sets the gps for the buffet but waits for Kim to give the order, staring at her with anticipation. "Not yet, could be a prank." 

The dispatcher rings out again. "A second explosion has been reported by officers. Officers are being engaged by both suspects, backup and medical requested." 

And just like that Kim caves, giving Sato the Okay. The man turns on the CCG company car's lights and sirens before flipping a U-turn and speeding down the street, swerving around the vehicles that don't move out of the way fast enough. "Try not to kill us on the way there Amida!" Kim yells with a chuckle in her voice, enjoying the adrenaline that comes with Satos driving. It should've taken eight minutes to get to the Buffet, but it took three thanks to Sato. 

"God damn..."Sato says as he pulls up behind a crushed police car, something hit it from the side and crumpled it like paper. Luckily no

Officers were inside. Sato grabs the radio transmitter and speaks into it "Investigators Martinez and Sato on site." He says, greeted only by static. "Shit, what a time for the broadcast to go down. Think they got a jammer?" 

_ In a sense _ , Kim thinks to herself, a wave of uncertainty washing over her. "Lets uhh... lets scout the area." She suggests before popping the trunk of the car. The run out and Sato grabs his quinque suitcase and Kim grabs her MP-5 and backpack. She prefers to pack light when on the road.

A loud, thunderous boom rings out that rocks the area, and a building in the distance collapses. "There! Through the alley!" Kim orders and takes off towards the fight, Sato following just a few steps behind. They sprint through the alley as a chorus of gunfire rings out, immediately being drowned out by another loud boom. A police car rolls down the street and a few police officers that manage to escape the explosion limp into the alley before collapsing in a bloody, exhausted heap. "Check them!" Kim orders. 

"Wait what!" Sato screams when she runs by the officers and into the street. "Kim!" He screams, but obeys her orders to help the officers. 

_ Good boy! _ Sato Kim mentally praises the man's obedience as she charges into the street, expecting to see two figures, but only seeing a foot disappear into another alleyway. She sprints towards the alley, not bothering to check the police bodies that litter the street. 

Sorry guys she silently apologizes. 

She hears a loud growl before a massive impact causes ground beneath her breaks away, nearly making her fall. She scrambles for her balance and peeks into the alleyway, her automatic weapon raised and ready. She finally sees the two figures, one boy and one ukaku type ghoul with Golden, angel like wings. That must be the one from the convenience store Kim concludes, noting the black robe with gold and silver detailing, the hood hiding his face. But she's not interested in the ghoul, it's the boy.... a boy she knows. "It's you...." She says right above a whisper, too quietly for him to hear her.

"Earn your dinner you winged faggot!" The boy screams at the ghoul with multiple overlapping voices. Hearing him say that makes Kims heart skip a beat, as if confirming it to be the same being from her past. The ghoul doesn't fight but instead retreats, jumping straight up and it looked like the boy was about to chase after it again. 

" _ Stop _ !" Kim screams in summarian, making the boy stop in his tracks and look back at her, his glowing eyes wide in surprise. " _ So that is you."  _

_ "How do you know this language?" _ The boy asks, trepidation lining his movements as he inches closer to Kim, and she realized she's pointing her gun at him. After she drops it he relaxes noticeably.  _ "How do you know me?" _

Kim can't help but grin at the confused creature, admiring his nearly unchanged features from the last time they met. His hair is longer, his black locks reaching his shoulders. But what really surprised Kim was the accent, he didn't have one like that before, a strange African. _ "You don't remember me _ ?" Kim asks and the boy shakes his head. She doesn't know whether to be relieved or hurt, so she feels neither and simply appreciates the boys presence. " _ I know you, Chieftain."  _

" _ Chieftain? _ " The boy asks in confusion, unfamiliar with the term. " _ What's a Chieftain?" _

_ "Oh? Ehhh nothing really." _

The boys eyes narrow, and he begins backing away. " _ Well this had been fun and all but it's weirding me the fuck out so imma go now. Bye bye."  _

" _ Wait! Don't you want to know about your past?" _ Kim yells at the boy and he stops in his tracks, looking over his shoulder.  _ Oops _ , struck a nerve Kim realizes, and a feeling of instant regret spreads through her as the boys eyes flare and narrow on her. But she knows exactly how to deal with him. Once he stomps close enough she reaches out.... and scratches the boy behind the ear. 

The boy jumps, but instantly relaxes into her touch.  _ "How did you know to do that?" _ The boy asks, closing his eyes as she scratches that soot. " _ How do you know any of this?"  _

" _ Oh child." _ Kim soothes the being. " _ Don't worry, I'll explain everything.... in time." _ He raises an eyebrow as Kim hands him her pink cellphone and grabs some clothes out of her backpack, a hoodie and some sweats she usually wears during workouts. " _ You're gonna have to change into this."  _

" _ Why? What's wrong with what I'm wearing? _ " The boy asks while referencing his skin tight suit with his hands. The suit has various holsters and pouches, as well as thin plates of armor on his forearms, shins, calfs, feet and trailing his spine. The heaviest plate of armor is the chest plate that fades into the suit. " _ Is this not good enough?"  _

" _ It may be pure black, but it sticks out like a sore thumb."  _ Kim says, before noticing the bright,

Multicolored bracelet on the boys right wrist. " _ What's that?" _

" _ This?"  _ The boy asks, raising his wrist to show off the item. " _ My friend gave this to me in the last dimension."  _

" _ Dimension? _ " The girl laughs at the term and the boy glares. " _ You got a lot to learn. Here...." _ she says and hands the boy her pink cellphone. " _ I'll tell my girlfriend to call you in an hour or so.... there's a park a few blocks away, go there and wait." _ Kim says and the boy tilts his head. " _ You wanna know about your past? Do what I say.... and don't show anyone your prosthetic."  _

And like that she leaves leaving the boy perplexed and rubbing his right leg.  _ Holy fucking shit _ kim thinks as she makes her way back to Sato. She silently prays history won't repeat itself.


	3. Shopping!

Dindu isn't sure what to think of Ai Nakamura, Kim's girlfriend. She's nice, pretty, and very open. But he gets a sense that she's not being honest with him, plus she giggles constantly and he doesn't know why.

"So how long have you known Kim?" He asks the girl as she drives down the road, tapping her fingers to the beat of the song on the radio. 

"Hmmm two, no three!" She says leaving the boy confused. 

"Three what? Minutes? Years? Degrees?" 

"Years!" She chimes out with a giggle, making the boy mentally debate rather he should crash the car or not. "Can you see in the dark?" She asks and the boy nods. "Wow thats so cool! You're like a cat or something." 

"Or something..." 

"So... whats the first thing you remember?" The girl asks and the boy closes his eyes, trying to piece the puzzle together. 

"I think.... I was in a cave." He admits. It's harder for him to remember, and pieces of his memory chip away after each Dimensional shift. "Or was it a bunker? Im not sure." 

"Hmmmm, are you from Africa? You don't look African." Ai says and the boy rolls his eyes, one thing he does remember is everyone questioning his accent. 

"You fought a ghoul today, was that scary?" 

"He wouldn't die, but he couldn't hurt me either. It was ummmm interesting ...... are there more of those things?" The boy asks and the girl nods. "Are there more of me? Are they here." 

The girl gives him a sideways glance and chuckles. "That's a hard question to answer ya know. You should ask Kim that one." 

"You know more then your letting on...." the boy growls, but refrained from any violence, no matter how difficult it was. "Fine. At least tell me what were doing?" 

"We're going shopping, silly bean." She giggles out before making a right into a parking complex across from a mall. "We need to get you nice and stylish before we get back to Tokyo." 

"What is shopping?" The boy asks. "Like a trade?" This dimension is far different then any other dimension he's ever seen, not only are there a plethora of orientals, easily the most he's ever seen, but the world hasn't ended, and humanity is thriving. He simply doesn't know the customs of the planet yet. 

"Yeah you trade money for things. You've never bought anything before?" 

"I just take what I need." 

It took three attempts for Ai to park. The first time she blamed the space for being too small, despite the fact that it's the same size as all the other spaces. She sped off to find another spot and turned into a spot, scraping the brown sudan in the attempt. She switched into reverse and sped away, literally screaming, "Fuck it! Lets go to the top!" Before driving to the top of the five story parking structure, the top floor being completely void of vehicles. She then parked sideways in the spot, eventually straightening herself out. 

"Okay.." Dindu grins amused by the whole event. "You're a terrible driver." The dark skinned boy chuckles as he gets out of the car, being grabbed by the arm. 

"You can't be wearing that weird suit in public you know. Take it off and put it in the trunk..... you have underwear right?" 

"Why the fuck would I have underwear?" The boy scoffs and rolls his cyan eyes. "And I like my suit, its comfy." 

"Just change in the car please." Ai giggles and gets out of the car, giving the boy some privacy. The boy slips off the hoodie and sweat pants gifted to him by Kim, revealing the black, armor plated skin tight suit. He finds the two hidden buttons on his collarbones and the suit decompresses, allowing the boy to wiggle out of the suit in the back of Ai's car, leaving the boy exposed. He throws the suit into Ai's back seat and slithers back into his hand me down sweats and hoodie, zipping it all the way up before sliding out of the car. 

"Its so roomy." The boy smiles at Ai, wiggling his hips around. "I should just wear these." 

Ai giggles at the boys little dance, and how the sweats get trapped under his feet as he moves. His bare foot and the prosthetic anyways. "You don't have shoes?" She points out and the boy looks down at his feet. She gave him shoes didn't she?

"Nah, didn't wear them when I was younger and I could never get used to them, plus I only have one foot so..." The boy trails off and waits for Ai to say something. She looks at the boy in confusion before giggling and walking towards the staircase, letting the boy trail behind her. The make their way down the stairs and into the shopping complex. The First thing Dindu noticed was the sheer amount of people, hundreds of strangers talking and yelling and walking around without a care in the world. It was too much for the boy. 

"Can we hurry this up please!" The boy whisper screams and huddles close to Ai. "I fucking hate crowds..." He says and the girl giggles at his trepidation. 

"Hehe, you just took on a ghoul but you cant handle a busy mall? You really are a silly bean." She teases and puts a arm over the shorter boys shoulders, escorting him into a clothing store, picking a pair of boxer briefs at random and hoping they'll fit. She tails the boy as he looks around the store, encouraging him to get whatever catches his eye. "Kim's paying, so go crazy."she says and the boy shrugged his shoulders, not understanding the concept. 

"I like this." The boy says, examining a solid black t-shirt. "How do we buy it?" 

"I'll buy it when were done shopping." The girl giggles and the boy tilts his head. "That means you can get more things." She explains and the boys eyes flash in understanding.... literally. If she hadn't seen Kim do the same thing, she would've gasped in surprise. But instead she just said, "Don't do that with your eyes, were meant to be inconspicuous." 

"It happens when I get excited." The boy says wearing a smirk. "Imma get ten more shirts just like this one!" The boy giggles and starts pulling the shirts off the racks not bothering to even check the size, Ai places a hand on his arm to stop her and the boy looks at her in confusion. "What?" 

"Don't you wanna get something you know... colorful? Or maybe some pants?" Ai suggests and escorts the boy around some more. "How about this one?" She asks as she presses a bright, tye-dye shirt to the boys chest. "This would look so cute on you!" 

"It's so bright! Won't it affect camouflage?" The boy asks, Ai's Hazel eyes meet his cyan ones and he looks away in embarrassment. "Heh, right, no need for camouflage I guess." He says, wrapping the shirt around his forearm, before Ai takes it from him and puts it in a basket, taking a few more tai-dye shirts from the rack as well. They spend the next twenty minutes looking for pants, but eventually settle on various shorts and cargo pants, Dindu thinks the jeans would constrict his movements and Ai had no choice but to agree. 

They make their way to a dressing room, and Ai waits outside the door when the boy changes. She doesn't think he'd mind if she saw him _completely_ nude, but it would've been weird for her because, one, she doesn't really know him and two, she likes girls.

However, she does allow her eyes to run over him once he gets dressed again. "You have a girls butt, you know that?"Ai giggles as Dindu spins around to look at his rear in the mirror, noticing that his pants cling to his curvature. "Do you run or play any sports or anything?" 

"I've always had this body..." Dindu explains, while throwing his real leg into the air, testing the elasticity of the black cargo pants. "But I do alot of martial arts if thats what you're asking?" 

"Really!" Ai chimes out a bit louder then she intended, a excited smile paints her face. "Im training for the olympics next year! In taekwondo! Do you know taekwondo?" The girl asks and the boy waves his hand. 

"Ehh a bit, the monks taught a style called Etadik but I think taekwondo was involved, memories shot remember?" 

"Etadik? You learned a style called Etadik from monks?" She chuckles, finding the word amusing.... as she should. "Do you have a frame called chokeoncock?" 

You see, Etadik is pronounced "Eat-A-Dick." Hence the humor. Just thought that should be explained.

"Hardy har." Dindu groans and rolls his eyes before returning to the changing room to try on some shorts, emerging in a dark grey pair that reach right above his knees. "Hows this look?" 

"It looks good! But the prosthetic...." the girl leans in to get a closer look at the metallic leg. "You can't wear that. Its a bit off you know? Doesn't match out tech." 

"Fuck off." The boy growls, his eyes flaring at the olympian. "I'm not taking this leg off. It's my leg." 

The olympian backs off and raises her hands in defense, a nervous smile on her face. "Hehe fine, just wear some pants to cover it up then." 

The boy obliges, heading back into the changing room and changing back into the clothes borrowed to him by Kim, reemerging in his shy demeanor. Despite Ai's persistence, they Did not buy shoes, Djimon insisted on calling them "foot prisons" and refused to even venture near the shoe aisle, instead making their way to to the front. 

"Ok Dindu..." Ai whispers, earning a giggle from the boy. "Watch closely, I'm going to teach you how to pay." The girl Waits in line with Dindu watching her every move, studying the art of buying clothes. After a few people, it's their turn and Dindu is alert and focused. 

Hello ma'am..." Ai greets the cashier, who didn't seem to appreciate her enthusiasm. "I have some clothing items to purchase on this glorious afternoon." 

_I should be taking notes! _Dindu thinks to himself as he focuses on the interaction, noticing the tiniest of movements and subtleties. The cashier lacks all enthusiasm, and is donning a 'I really wish I weren't here right now' button on her collar. 

"Thank you very much...." Ai chimes out loudly as she gathers the bags, handing a few to the tan boy behind her. "I will never forget what you have done for me this day." 

The pair leave the store giggling, and Ai teaches the boy how to do the 'shopping walk', letting the bags from both forearms and swiveling her hips in a rhythm. The boy imitates her movements, and feels like a idiot, but does it anyways to make her laugh, earning a smack on the butt. 

His eyes widen, and he looks over his shoulder at his rear, "Why you do that?" The boy asks as Ai giggles. "Did I have something on my ass?" 

"No. You did something funny!" Ai says and the boy tilts his hand. "When someone does something funny you smack them on the ass." She says as a devious smile creeps onto her face, a smile the boy misreads as genuine. 

_Interesting, Ill have to remember that. _He thinks to himself.

The pair spend the next three hours in the car, Dindu falling asleep in the first ten minutes. Ai didn't mind, as the radio kept her plenty of company. She would tap her fingers on the steering wheel to the beats of her favorite songs while the boy slept in the passenger seat, all curled up in Kim's clothes. When she finally pulled into the parking structure next to Kim's house she considered staying with the boy to let him sleep in the car, but he awoke when the engine turned off. 

"Where are we?" The boy asks as his dull blue eyes return to their usual bright color. Ai couldn't help but stare, ignoring the boys question until he tilted his head and repeated himself. "Where are we?" 

She shook herself out of her daze and said, "This is Kim's house, just outside Tokyo." 

"Tokyo?" 

A smirk creeps onto Ai's face as she gets out of the car, the boy following behind her as she leads him to the other end of the parking structure. "Wha..." the boy gasps as he looks out over the city, noticing the little colors, the people walking, the cars break lights blinking incrementally, he's never seen anything like it. "I-is this how people live here?" 

"More or less..." Ai says while leaning over the railing, noticing the boy copy her movements. "I won't be here long, I'm training up north, still...... it's nice to see home." The two of them stare in silence at the busy city, admiring the mass of activity that drives it. They eventually get bored and head inside Kims two story house. 

Dindu didnt know what to expect, but was still surprised. It was clean, extremely clean, not even any dust. The bookshelf on the edge of the wall by the television was color coordinated, all the spines matchup and pressed so tightly he could barely tell the thickness of each individual book. A large chandelier hangs over the living room where the boy noticing a large flat T.V. recognizing it from the other dimension, but never seeing it work. 

Ai notices his interest in the gadget. "Did you wanna watch something?" She asks the boy and he shrugs. She chuckles pushing the boy onto the couch and flipping on the television, being greeted by some random Japanese news station reporting about a coup in the middle east. "Let's watch something a bit more cheerful." She suggests, flipping through the channels while the boy stares as the screen starts to flicker, a sort of interference that makes Ai scratch her head for a moment before focusing on the boy next to her. "Oh yeah, you guys have that weird magnetism thing that fucks with electronics." She pops off the couch and started on a path towards the kitchen. "I got just the thing!" 

The boy waits patiently while watching the T.V. Flicker. The T.V. Flickers his field of vision before returning to static and some sort of cartoon. _Well that's weird, _Dindu thinks, but doesn't feel surprised about. 

** _Now we know about that. _ **

"Here..." Ai chimes out as she enters the room, a chocolate ball in her fingers. "It's a chocolate blue berry, give it a try." She says as the boy takes the berry, popping it into his mouth. The initial, sweet taste of the chocolate is quickly replaced by a lingering, bitter aftertaste as the boy swallows the berry, the static on the television screen slowly fading away until a clear signal comes in. 

"What was that?" The boy asks with mixed feelings over the fruit he just ate, the taste still lingering in his tongue. "I feel weird...." the boy realizes before a lightning bolt of paranoia and rage shoot through him, forcing him up and over the girl. "The fuck did you do to me!?" He growls, considering grabbing the girl by her throat. "Tell me!" 

"I- its just medicine!" The girl stutters out, terrified by the boys multiple overlapping voices. Kims never done that before! "It helps make you more human, Kim's got hundreds of them." The boys stares daggers at the girl, but giggles, backing off and sitting back on the couch. 

"She's really weird isn't she?" The boy laughs and falls into the couch, enjoying the fearful look on Ai's face. "Why would She want to be more human?" 

** _Im not sure._ **


	4. Immortals

"You don't hold any sort of vendetta against the CCG, do you John?" Locke asks, eyeing the boy in the drivers seat. He taps his fingers on the wheel and thinks for a moment before Jasmine specifies. "Or is it just stitches? Whats his name?" 

"Suzuya." John says, knowing exactly who she's asking about, not that there's many investigators with stitches running around. "I don't hate him." 

"You don't?" Locke asks, snickering to herself. "I would." 

_It's not his fault _John thinks to himself, accepting a portion of the blame. He was wounded at the time, vulnerable. He was recovering from his parents deaths in a new place where he knew no one and nothing. He would have done anything to distract himself from the pain inside him. And Juuzou? He was just being himself.

_Little trouble maker._

The main office of the CCG looks the same as it did two years ago, and John effortlessly finds his way to the office on the top floor, home of the special operations division of the CCG. It seems John and Locke were the last to arrive, as they pushed open the doors to the office, being greeted by CCG chairman Tsuneyoshi Washuu, his son and Bureau Director Yoshitoki Washuu, special class investigator Kishou Arima, and.... 

"Kim?" John gasps as his hazel eyes greet her green ones. As a Rank 2 Investigator her presence in the room is.... odd, to say the least. "Good to see you again, Investigator Martinez." He says returning to his usual stoic state, hearing Locke chuckle behind him as she enters the room. 

Usually Kim would make a joke about John overusing formalities, but surrounded by her superiors he chose instead to quickly flip him off. Arima caught her, but didn't say anything, simply standing and bowing to John and Locke. 

"Welcome back, Albia" the

Pale man says, earning a nod. "Please take a seat." 

They do as asked, sitting next to each other before Chairman Washuu slides them each a bage envelope marked 'confidential'.

They open it up, and Chairman Washuu gets up from his chair. 

"As you know..." he begins, making his way to a whiteboard with various photos and maps magnetized to it. "The ghoul terrorist cult known as 'The Immortals' has been running a muck in Europe and the United States, with a few incidents in Japan and China. However this most recent incident is the largest to date, Investigator Martinez..." 

On cue Kim stands from her chair bowing to her superior. "Thank you Chairman Washuu..." she says before heading over to the white board while Washuu sits down. "Two days ago, my partner rank-2 Amida Sato and myself were in the port city of Hokkaido, investigating a possible lead on the A-rated ghoul known as 'bluegill'. While our investigation turned out to be a dead end, on our way to the airport we overheard a radio transmission reporting multiple explosions and ghoul activity. After the reports were confirmed Sato and I began a route to the affected area. When we arrived there had already been multiple police and civilian casualties, as Sato and I ran through a alley, a massive wind blast sent a police cruiser tumbling down the street as multiple injured police personnel rushing into the alley way that we had occupied. I ordered Sato to tend to the officers while I investigated the disturbance. I ran across the street to a second alley way, where a ukaku type Ghoul battled a unknown entity." 

John raises a eyebrow and lifts his hand. "When you say unknown entity, what do you mean?" 

"The entity lacked any sort of identifiable markings or clothing. All I could tell is that their was a second individual in the alley. If I had to guess its height, I'd say around a hundred seventy centimeters...." 

"The ghoul please Investigator Martinez..." Chairman Washuu rushes the girl. 

"Oh, right, the ghoul matches descriptions and photographs of the Cult enforcer known as Hermes. A A-rated ghoul first sighted during the Dublin massacre in nineteen ninety two. Since then he's been reported in Russian, America, Mexico and now japan." 

"Thank you Investigator Martinez." Chairman Washuu says, standing back up. Kim bows again and takes her seat, letting Washuu have the floor. "The Immortals are a religious terrorist group, its members consider themselves blessed and their leader the reincarnates of the old greek gods. So far, we know of three leaders. Cronos, hades, and Medusa." 

Johns ears perk up at the name _Medusa _and memories of his parents killer flow into his head. The cage he was in prisoned in... it filled him with rage. He decided long ago that he would not rest until he brought her down. "Medusa.." the man repeats, a ferocity lining his voice like barbed wire. "I'll kill her myself." 

"Albia..." Arima chimes out, catching the younger mans attention. "Remember, your priority is detention, don't let your emotions impact your intelligence." 

John grimaces, setting his sights on the snowy haired investigator. "**Your **priority is detention! I'm just a hitman, remember Kishou? That's your word, not mine." 

"John!" Locke whisper yells into his ear, making the man fall silent. "Relax." She orders and John surpreses his rage, taking a few deep breaths. "So, Chairman, what do you need from Garuda team?" 

"You already know. We want to keep this quiet, which means..." 

"Small team interventions inside Japanese borders." Locke finishes his thoughts for him. _Looks like Marcus was right _John thinks. "Garuda team will get it done." 

It was a quick meeting, just the way John likes them. As their exiting the meeting, Kim stops them. "John..." she says, grabbing the larger man by the wrist. "Sorry about in there, I know thats a sore spot." 

"It's fine. Not your fault." 

"I know that..." The girl sighs and rolls her emerald green eyes. "But still, feels bad man." 

_She needs something _John thinks to himself, she hasn't insulted him yet. "What is it Kim?" 

"I umm..." the girl stutters and looks around before returning eye contact to John. "I wanna go to karaoke." 

"You... you want to go singing?" John stutters. He's not much of a singer, or a guy to go out to karaoke bars in the first place. "I'm not sure." 

"We'll it's not that..." Kim continues while reaching up, straitening John's tie for him. "I have a cousin in town, I wanted everyone to meet him." 

_I don't think I've ever met any of her family _John thinks to himself, feeling a sense of obligation. He feels guilty sometimes, she's his best friend and he consistently avoids her. Granted he's usually extremely busy, but he feels that he should make more time to see her and his other friends. "Alright Kim, we'll make a day of it." 

"Huh, really?" Kim stutters, comprehending the words spewed from the younger mans face. _Did he just say yes? _Kim asks herself, while letting out a giggle. "Well alright John, don't forget your singing voice." She chimes out as the man walks away with his superior, waving at the girl as he enters the elevator. 

"Investigator Martinez..." a voice chimes out behind her and she looks over her shoulder to greet the CCG's white reaper. "I trust you'll keep todays discussion under wraps?" 

"Of course, Investigator Arima." The girl responds with strict obedience, earning a nod from her superior. The Reaper makes his way into the elavtor, holding the door open for the frozen Kim. 

"You're going to the ground floor aren't you?" The pale man says and Kim nods. "Then get in." 

_Oh, right _Kim says while 

mentally face palming. "Thanks.." she says and scoots in beside the taller man. They stand in silence for a moment, Kim feeling a deep trepidation about being in a enclosed space with her superior. They silence was broken when a certain stitched investigator entered the elevator. _Oh shit, it's Suzuya. _

"Kimmy!" The boy squeals and bumps his way in between the two investigators. "It's been a while hasn't it? I heard you were up north or something?" The boy chuckles, earning a smile from the female investigator. 

Despite her soft spot for the stitched boy, she repressed her usual playful nature while in the presence of Arima. "Good to see you, investigator Suzuya." She says in a nearly monotone voice, earning a sideways glance from the stitched boy. His attention shifts from her to the tall man beside him and then back to her. 

"Is it me? Or is white death here scaring you?" The boy giggles out, having no fear of death personified beside him. He turns to the pale man and says "What did you do to Kimmy? Why did you make her boring?" He glares up at the man. 

The taller man lets out a sigh, but doesn't look down at the smaller boy. "It's always nice to see you, Investigator Suzuya..." The man groans, and Kim resists the urge to clamp her hand around the boys stitched mouth, knowing he wants a reaction. The boy falls silent when the girl ignores him, focusing on pulling the stitches on his arm. After a few more floors, the elevator stops and Arima steps out of the elevator. "See you tomorrow, Investigator Martinez, make sure Albia knows the plan." He says before the elevator doors closed, and the girl is alone with a wide eyed Suzuya. 

_Arima, you idiot! _Kim cries mentally as the stitched boy sets her in his sights. "You're working with John again?" Suzuya asks with a sparkle in his eye. "Ohhh I didn't even know he was in town! I'll have to go see him later. You don't think he holds a grudge against me, do you?" 

Kim grows hesitant, trying to formulate a plan of action to deal with the boy before deciding to just say _Fuck it. _"Hey Suzuya!..." Kim cheerfully chimes out, wrapping her arm around the boy "You're not busy tonight are you?" 

Juuzou tenses at the contact, but Kim is one of the few people he won't snap at for touching him."Huh!? No I'm not busy. why?" 

"Well, I got a cousin in town and I'm getting the group together to meet him. You wanna come? Johns coming." 

A brief look of betrayal enters his eyes. "Huh, he didn't tell me." He mutters to himself. Kim leaps into action. 

"Well I told him I'd ask you. I was actually just on my way to find you right now. So whatcha say?" Kim asks, silently praying the boy says no, not because she doesn't like him, she does. But what if Djimon hates him? Or worse... what if he likes him? She shutters at the memories of a young "Djimon" and those who followed him. _Of course his name was different back then...._

"Sounds fun Kimmy!" Juuzou chimes out, visibly brightening. "I'll go to John's house right now!" The boy says before skipping out if the elevator, humming a little song with his eyes closed. 

Sato walks up to his partner, watching the stitched boy skip away. "So..." He says, taking a bite of a granola bar. "He rope you into something?" 

"No he just forced his way in." She grumbles, making a loud sighing noise. "By the way, we're meeting back here at two tomorrow." She says will trotting out of the building.


	5. Meet and Greet

"I think the fuck not!" Dindu screams, holding his prosthetic leg tightly to his chest. "You're outta your fucking mind if you think im giving you my leg!" 

Kim and Ai stand infront of the boy, their hands on their hips, mom style. "Cmon, Dindu..." 

"Why can't I just wear my prosthetic?" 

"Because its too advanced for modern tech Dindu..." Kim says while rolling her green eyes,

She shakes the wheelchair beside her. "I got this for you, doesn't it look comfy?" 

"Doesn't this dick look comfy!?!" The boy screams, and kim grunts at him. "You're literally asking me to give up a part of myself!" 

_Wow, he's still stubborn _Kim thinks to herself, a wave of nostalgia washing over her. "Can't you cooperate!" She yells at the boy and Ai gets in between them, bending down to be eye level with the boy. "Are you embarrassed by your amputation?" 

"You know I can't walk with one leg right?" The boys growls, breaking eye contact with the girl. "What if I need to fight?" 

Kim shrugs at the boy, giving up hope. "So... you don't wanna go singing." She says and watches as the boys eyes widen. _Singing! _Kim mentally screams, remembering his hobbies. "That's right! We're going singing! But you can't come unless you get rid of that leg." 

The boy looks at his leg, giving it a tight hug before decompressing the metallic prosthetic, setting it on the couch. "Don't look at it." The boy grumbles, looking away from the couple. _Ahh now I feel bad_

"Cmon, try these crutches!" Ai says with a giggle, grabbing the boys arm and wrapping in around her shoulders. "It might take a while for you to get used to them." 

Dindu looks at kim, who's holding the crutches infront of her. He rolls his eyes, but takes one of the crutches, placing it under his arm before taking the other one. He wiggles around, trying to test his mobility. "I don't like these." The boy mumbles earning a chuckle from the couple. "How long do I have to wear these for?" 

"When you're out in public." Kim says, watching the boy become aquainted with the crutches, shifting his weight around. "Try to be nice today, you're gonna have to stay with one of my friends." 

The boy stops is dance and process the words he just heard, looking at He African girl. "You want me to stay with your friend?" The boy repeats, tilting his head side to side. "Bitch what the fuck!"

"Dindu! Don't say that word!" The girl scolds the boy, smacking him across the face. "Thats very offensive!" 

"Wow you cunt!" The boy screams back, rubbing his cheek and barring his teeth at the girl, snarling like a dog. "Who the fuck do you think you are?! I can still shift into my combat skin ya know !?" 

"Go ahead." 

The boy freezes for a second, closing his eyes and concentrating for a moment before a wave of terror washes over him. "Why can't I change!?" He screams, his voice breaking into pieces . _"Alma! Where are you!?" _

_"Whoa! Hey relax!" _Kim says immediately regretting provoking the boy. "It's just the medicine! It'll wear off in six hours!" The girl says, attempting to scratch the side of the mans head, but getting her hand slapped away. "Ow you little bastard!" 

***Knock knock knock* **

The three of them freeze in place as the first guest arrives. "Behave." Kim whisper screams at Dindu and he flips her off. _Thats not promising. _

She swings the door open and the shy, half inch shorter boy makes eye contact with her. "Hi Kimmy." The boy says, clutching a box wrapped in green wrapping paper and a red bow to his chest. "Im not too late am I?" 

"You're actually early Daigo." The girl greats, giving the boy a smile and pulling him into her house. "You came alone? Your friends not with you?" 

The boys grey eyes sparkle at the mention of his best friend, they've been joined at the hip for years after all. "Benny? No, I haven't seen him all day." The shy boy says, making eye contact with the tan boy across the room. "Oh, is that your cousin?" The boy asks, clutching the box a little tighter. 

"_Who's Mr.shakes alot? Kim?" _The boy asks in summarian, a language only the two of them understand. "_What's he carrying?" _

_"_It's called a present." Kim answers in Japanese and Daigo shrinks into himself, realizing they were talking about him. Kim wraps her arm around the boys shoulders. "This is Daigo Nakamuria, Ai's brother. And he's a TOTAL nerd." 

"Thank you Kim." The boy chuckles with a blush, finally making eye contact with the cyan orbs infront of him. "Nice to meet you, Dindu." The boy says with a bow. 

"Yo..." The tan boy replies, confused by the gesture of respect. "Did you drop something?" 

Ai giggles and leans over whispering in the boys ear. "In our culture, bowing is a sign of respect." She says and then backs away, still giggling. 

"Oh..." the tan boy says, and tilts his crutches forward to substitute a bow. "Sup? Daigo Nakamuria." 

"Thats his way of saying hello." Kim explains, still hanging onto Daigo's shoulder, nudging him forward. "Go mingle. I gotta get something." She says and pushes the boy forward. 

"Eh hi.." Daigo mumbles again, unsure of what to do in the presence of a stranger. "I uh, I got a you a present." He says shoving the pretty box forward. 

"A present?" The boy questions as his eyes flash with intrigue. He snatches the box from the boy and jumps on the couch, letting the crutches clatter as he rips the green wrapping off the box, before opening it, revealing a small, bronze animal. "It's a lion!" The boy squeals in delight, examining the small stuffed toy. "I used to have one of these you know?" 

Daigo tilts his head slightly and sits on the couch next to the younger man. "A toy lion?" He asks, digesting the boys reaction. 

"No silly, I had a real lion.... he looked a bit different then this one though." The boy says, tossing the toy between his hands. "I think he had two tails too." 

"Oh...."Daigo says, unsure what to do with the information, choosing to deflect the conversation with a compliment. "I like your shirt." He says, prompting the boy to look down at his bright, tai-dye T-shirt. 

"Thanks. I look better without it." The boy says before a howl of laughter erupts the the asian girl watching the two of them interact. "Whats funny, Ai?" 

The girl calms down her laughter and try's to put on a stern face. "Don't flirt with my brother, he's too old for you." 

"Heh, Im only seventeen." The boy says with a smile, shrinking into himself with a blush. "I'm not that old." 

"Im pretty sure Dindu is fourteen." Ai says, letting her giggles return. "You're fourteen aren't you?" She asks the tan boy. Dindu just shrugs, unsure of his true age. "See, don't flirt with older men." 

"Eh, he's the one trying to wine and dine me with stuffed lions." Dindu grumbles and Daigo shrinks into himself again. 

***knock knock knock* **

"I got it!" Kim screams from upstairs, bolting down the steps towards The front door. She swings the door open, revealing a taller man with a albino mext to him. "Hi John! Hi Juuzou! come in." She says ushering the two inside, letting the smaller boy through but stopping the taller one. "What happened?" She whispers just loud enough for him to hear. 

"He was in my house!" John whisper screams, clearly upset with the albino. "I almost shot him." 

Kim looks over at the albino, his red eyes burning a hole through Dindus blue one. _Oh no!_ Kim thinks to herself as the tension in the room becomes heavy, everyone silent to watch what happens. "_Play nice with him." _Kim says in summarian, earning a sideways glance from John. 

The two boys stare at each other, taking in each others appearance. "You have stitches." The cyan eyed boy says, looking at the other boys arm. "You have one leg." The albino says and crosses his arms, standing over the tan boy. Kim sucks in a shakey breath, hoping the situation doesn't escalate. _This is a disaster! _

"Hey Dindu....." Ai chimes out from the background, a slight shake in her voice. "Tell Juuzou about your lion!" 

"Ahhh, okay?" The boy says, holding up the stuffed toy. "I got this three seconds ago." 

"Not that one stupid! The real one!" 

"You had a lion?" The albino chimes out, letting his arms drop. "How did you get a lion?!" 

"Ah well. I was part of a nomadic tribe, and while I was hunting I stumbled across this little cub. And well, I brought him home and raised him." The boy says summing up the whole story in a matter of seconds. "He had two tails."

"What's his name ?" The albino asks, back into his usual self. Picking at the stitches on his lip. 

"His name?" The tan boy echoes, his eyes widening in surprise. _What the fuck was his name!? _He screams at himself as a momentary panic takes place within him. "His name...." the boy says buying himself some thinking time. "Was Daigo." 

The two girls in the room mentally face palmed, and the grey eyed boy looks over at the tan one. "Daigo?" The albino repeats, still pulling on his stitches, letting them go and his mouth snaps into a smile. "That's Ai's brothers name!" He says proudly, his eyes snapping to the grey eyed boy on the couch. "Oh.. I see you already met him." 

"Hi Juuzou." The shy boy waves and the albino rolls his eyes, sitting on the other side of the african. 

"So... if you dont mind me asking, whats that thing on your leg." Juuzou asks, pointing out the black band on the nub of Dindu's leg. "Is that a African thing?" 

"_Kim! What do I say?" _The tanned boy chimes out. Kim rolls her eyes and pushes John forward, prompting him to introduce himself. 

"Hey..." the tall man says, earning the attention of the smaller boys. "Im John." 

"Hmm you have a diffrent accent...." the tan boy points out, tilting his head and switching his language to English. "Do you understand me?" 

"You know english?" John says, happy to hear his native language. "You ever been to the states?" 

"I made a stop in Georgia before coming here." The boy says and Kim's eyes widen, her green eyes flashing in a mixture of emotion. _He's blowing it! _

"I got something!" Holding a baggy full of gummy bears called 'Edipure gummy bears'. "I have three bags of em!" 

"Oh god!" Daigo screams, gagging at the site of the edibles. "Get those things away from me!" He says looking away from the bag, making the albino laugh. 

"Wow Kimmy, you gave Daigo ptsd! Good job!" He says with a thumbs up. The tanned boy looks around confused, prompting Juuzou to explain. "Those are edibles, they make you super duper high!" 

"Kim. You know I need to keep my facilities in order right?" John says, denying the proposal. "I don't wanna be drowsy tomorrow, you know?" 

"I'm out too." Ai chimes in making Kim roll her green eyes at her girlfriend. "Hey! Im a olympian remember? I need to be a good roll model for the kids!" 

"Okay Micheal Phelps!" Kim scoffs, But teasingly sticks her tongue out. "But John, you have to." 

"I don't remember signing anything saying I have to." The taller man says , putting his hands in his suit jacket and suddenly realizing he's over dressed, being the only one in a suit. He doesn't count Juuzou's suspenders as formal wear. "And besides, someone has to drive." 

"Well we're going in my truck, so I'm driving." She says, taking a handful of stars and putting them in her mouth. "Mmmm delicious." 

"That was like a hundred and fifty milgrams!" Daigo gasps before gagging again. "I can't! I threw up last time!" 

"Pussy!" Juuzou screams and leans over the couch, grabbing a star from the bag. "Once you get past the taste it's not so bad!" He says to Dindu before stuffing the star in his mouth. _Kinda smells _Dindu thinks to himself.

"Dindu...." Kim says getting the boys attention. "_If you're good today, I'll tell you about your past." _She says, making the boys eyes widen and shimmer. "Here, take three." 

"No!" Daigo screams and slaps the stars out if the girls hand, making her jump I surprise. "I won't let you taint him!" 

"He's killed people." She says, earning a nod from Dindu. "Trillions." 

"You're next if you try to stop me." Dindu joking threatens the boy next to him with a giggle. "But you know really I have killed people right?" 

"Uh well..... im sure you had a good reason." 

"Nah not really." He says, laughing at the boys reaction as Daigo gets off the couch, taking the opportunity to slap the boys butt. The room goes silent and stares at him in disbelief, Daigo refuses to look behind him and blushes deeply in embarrassment. "What?" 

Ai, erupts with laughter and collapses on the floor, bludgeoning her head against the carpet as hysteria takes over her senses. Kim stutters out, "Wh-why did you do that?"

"He made me laugh?" The boy says, raising a hand at the violated Daigo as Ai's laughter reverberates off the walls. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" 

"No!" Kim screams, holding im her giggles. "Hehe, who told...." she stops talking and looks at her girlfriend, who's howling into the floor, now completely flat and kicking the ground violently. "Ai! How could you!?" 

"Because It's funny as fuck!" She howls, trying desperately to contain herself but failing. "I told him that at the mall yesterday!" 

"So... its not true?" The boy asks in confusion. A grin playing out on his lips. "Hehe, That's not a bad joke." 

He plans to get payback for that one.


	6. McDonalds

Ai and John have left for McDonald's, tasking Daigo to watch over the group, and Its proven to be uneventful. 

_Gummy bears shouldn't be able to steal your soul like that_ he was thinks to himself as he glances over at the three people slumped over on the couch. They are un moving, and unchanging. Sometimes they manage to regain consciousness, but quickly lose their grip and fall back asleep. Sometimes one of them will scream and the rest will scream and then they'll all giggle...... and then they'd fall asleep. 

"Why would someone want to do that for four hours?" Daigo grumbles as he plays on his phone. He considered texting Benny, his best friend, to ask him to bring over his backpack so he could at least finish his homework while watching these three. But Benny is out of town, visiting family in Canada. So Daigo has resorted to a simple, unchallenging puzzle game and humming a little song while his friends go down a hole. 

Kim slouches forward, and ken doesn't notice her tilting forward until it's too late, and she clatters onto the ground, landing in a heap. "Ouch." She says before pushing herself up to her knees and looking around, adjusting her black and green T-shirt on the way to her feet. "Oh, Daigo, you're here?" 

"Am I?" 

"Stop." Kim giggles, clutching the side of her hair with one hand.

"Don't freak me out right now." Kim says, fixing her hair back into a ponytail. "How long was I out?" 

"Two hours, Ai and John went to go get food for us." Kaneki says, not bothering to look up from hos phone. "Weren't we supposed to go to a karaoke bar?" 

"No, not a karaoke bar...." she says and picks a flyer off the table

Beside Ken. "We're going here,

I bought the place." 

"Club Spectrum?..." Daigo reads as he looks over the flier. It shows a few pictures of the friendly staff, as well as a bit of the clubs interior. "We're taking your cousin to a bisexual cabaret club?" The boy asks and tilts his head, his grey eyes glaring into her green ones. "Shouldn't we take him to like a show or something cultural?" 

"He loves to sing, and it's karaoke night. Besides he's bisexual I think." She says and Daigo puts his finger to his lips to shush her. She shakes her head and throws her hands ups. "What?" 

"You can't out him like that! What if he didn't want me to know?" Daigo says in a hushed scream and Kim rolls her eyes at him. "You know how Japan is about homosexuality." 

"Yeah, I know. I have a girlfriend remember? Thats why I bought the club. To give gay people a safe place to be themselves without worrying about retaliation." She says and Daigo rolls his eyes, making her narrow her eyes on him. "You got something on your mind?" 

"You can justify it how ever you want. But that fact remains that it's his sexuality, not yours. He should be the one who decides when the world should know. Thats all Im saying." He says before leaning back in the chair and taking his eyes off her. She couldn't help but chuckle. "Hmm?" 

"You're so cute when you're righteous." She chuckles before falling back asleep, leaving Daigo to go back to his cellular puzzle game. Its silent for another twenty minutes before Daigo is pulled out of the game by a knock on the door, making him groan as he gets up to his feet. 

"Police! Put your hands in the air!" Ai screams as Daigo opens the door for them, hoping to get a reaction from the doped up kids on and by the couch. She pouts when they don't even notice her. "Oh wow, they're still out of it eh, bro?" 

"Yeah, Juuzou stopped breathing a couple times but he's okay... I think." He says, glancing at the back of the albino's head and noticing a slight shake with each breath. "Yeah he's okay." 

"Alright, hold up. I'll get the bucket." Ai chimes out and skips into the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with a large, red bucket. 

"You know Suzuya keeps knives in his shirt right?" John warns, setting the McDonald's down on the table, and out of the splash zone. "Your funeral." 

The girl giggles, and swings the bucket back for maximum velocity before dumping the five gallons of water all over the dopey bunch, and Kim's couch. Dindu was the first to react, and gasped in surprise, inhaling a mouthful of water. "Agh, Moisture!" He screams, hopping on his one leg "what the fuck!?" 

"Ghouls?" Juuzou sleepily screams and reaches into his white button up, usheething a few Quinquee knives. "Oh wow, this again?" 

"You knew the risk." She chuckles at the albino. Kim surveys the damage to her couch, using her hands to apply pressure and release the absorbed water out of its spongy material. "You knew the risk too, Kimmy." 

"My couch..." Kim grumbles, but doesn't stress over, instead turning her attention to the two boys on the couch, their clothing completely soaked and Juuzou's white shirt becomes transparent, making the black tank-top underneath shine through. "Do you wanna borrow some clothes Juuzou?" The girl asks the albino, knowing he's susceptible to illness. "You don't wanna catch a cold." 

"Nah I'll be fine." The boy says in a sing song voice while hiding his knives. Dindu catches him the the wrist, not with any malicious intent, but with curiosity. Juuzou notices Dindu's eyes widen as they scan the knives. "They're called Scorpion." The boy says, and Dindu takes a knife from his hand. "You use them against Ghouls." 

The boy doesn't look at Juuzou, and instead flips the knife between his fingers, enjoying the smooth transitions between positions. "Hmm I like this knife." The boy hums and hands it back to the albino. "How do you kill Ghouls? I couldn't figure it out." 

Kim's face drops, and she looks at the boy with pleading eyes. The boy realizes what he said, and masks his gasp "In Afrika! We got Ghouls there too ya know!" 

_Smooth recovery. _

"Oh, you've fought a ghoul before? And didn't die?" The albino says, and reaches up, touching Dindu's bicep and making the boy freeze. "You must be pretty strong then." 

"Thanks." The African says and relaxes, not bothered by the boys touch. "I'd like another shot at it though, I didn't get the dog fight I was expecting last time." 

_This needs to stop! _Kim thinks and clears her throat. "You two done? We need to get ready to go?" She says and Juuzou retracts his hand from the other boy, nodding his head, Kim rolls her eyes. "I'll get you a Jacket. 

Kim locks the door as they leave her house and make their way to her large, black truck. "It's gonna be a tight squeeze." Kim warns as everyone clambers for a spot in the truck. Dindu nudges her shoulder with his head and looks up at her with wide eyes. "Oh right...Daigo, let Dindu sit on your lap!" She orders the invertigator and he rolls his ruby red eyes.

"Why Can't he sit on your lap!" The boy snaps back, and the girl shoots him a look to let him know she means business. "But... he's heavier then me! Ill get squished." 

"Toooooo bad." Kim says and pushes the one legged boy towards the truck, helping him climb inside and onto the reluctant nerds lap. "Try not to bone him, D." She says making the tanned boy giggle and wiggle his hips, causing the boy to squirm. "Sorrrryyyy."Dindu says with a little grin and Daigo groans in annoyance. 

_We didn't even eat the McDonald's. _John realizes and leans against the window in the backseat to give Daigo and Dindu a bit of space. "So, when did you buy this place Kim?" 

Kim starts the car and slowly drives out of the parking structure before talking. "Last week, it's not doing so good." 

"You're bringing us to help with its finances?" 

"Hardy har..." Kim says and rolls her eyes. "Have I ever charged you for anything? Nope." 

"You charged me for that bike. That one time remember?" Juuzou chimes out. "But you wont charge John?"

"You CRASHED the bike! My bike! I had it for fourteen minutes! You rode it once! And you crashed it immediately! You just HAD to race that train didn't you!"

Juuzou scoffs and mumbles. "It happens to the best of us."

"NO IT DOESN'T!" Kim yells and starts swerving from her laughter. Making everyone tense up. "It happens only to you! You really need to learn how to ride a bike." 

Ai grabs the 'oh shit' bar above her head as Kims narrowly avoids side swiping a SUV, letting out a silent scream from her gaping mouth. "Kim can we get there ALIVE please?"

After Kim finished her little giggle fit, no-one spoke for fear of her re entry into her elated state, sparking the demise of everyone in the car. Luckily it was only a seven minute drive to the club in the outskirts of Tokyo. They get out of their Truck and slowly walk into Club Spectrum. A small, intimate, bisexual cabaret club. It's red and gold walls scream classy, yet it's friendly tone is welcoming to all financial backgrounds. There's a total of twelve tables, three rows of four, one row on each side of the stage and one infront of it. A small cast of young men and women are trusted to make their clients feel cared for, and loved.... or just simply entertain if the client happens to be the partying type, and has the funds to buy a river of alcohol. 

The greeter, and manager of the club is a kind man named Gareth, a business major attending Tokyo university. Kim found him to be a kind, genuine individual, and decided to hire him despite his obvious trepidatious personality, he's not meant to do much entertaining anyways. "Oh, Ms. Martinez." The man bows, stretching his slightly undersized tuxedo. "What do I owe the pleasure to?" 

Kim, puts her arm a around the boy on crutches, making him pout from the unwelcome pressure on his arms. "Hey G. I got a cousin in town and we wanna have a good time, you got a table for the owner dont you?" She says with confidence and Gareth scans the obviously underage boy. 

"Is he twenty?" He asks, not one to break the law. The drinking age in Japan is twenty years old, but the clubs still allow people who are at least eighteen to enter the clubs, but prohibit alcohol consumption. In his opinion Dindu looks like he could Be sixteen at the very most. 

"No, he's not." Kim says, not giving a single fuck about the law, still a little high from the illegal cannibus she consumed hours earlier. "We'll take a couple bottles of champagne, it's on the house obviously." 

Kim enjoys the internal struggle on Gareth's face, watching the mans eye twitch. "Eh right..." the man says before deflating slightly. "I'll get you our best table." He sighs and lead the group to a large round table at the center of the stage. "Would you like to request a host or hostess?" The man asks as everyone slides into booth. 

"That new girl please Gareth." Kim asks and waves the man off to complete his tasks. "Be nice to this new girl, she's....... new." 

Dindu looks around at his surroundings, shrinking out of view of the other patrons. "Is this a brothel?" He asks, eliciting a chuckle from the table. "You know I worked in a brothel once... I didn't like it very much." 

"Please don't.." Kim says while rubbing her eyes. "The less I know about your sex life the better." 

"What? No, I was undercover.... it was a front the local warlords were using to finance some overseas weapons trade. Had the best tech on the continent." 

Kim clamps her hand down on his mouth, eliciting a yelp from the boy. "You shouldn't be telling us this stuff." She warns, giving the boy a deadly glare. He bites her hand and she screams "Ow! You little shit! You bit me!" 

"You put your hand on my mouth, what did you expect?" 

They argue, which has already gotten old at this point so the rest of the group ignores it. Juuzou leans over to talk to John, John pretends not to notice him. "Psssst! John! Pssssttttt!" The albino waves his hands to get the larger mans attention, to no avail. 

"PppppppppsssssssssssssssstttttttttttttJohnpsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss" 

"What!?" John growls, his eyes glaring at the way too happy albino next to him. _This better be important. _

The boy grumbles at Johns less then pleased attitude, but continues with his question. _"_Sooooo~" he sings, tilting his head side to side to the rhythm coming through the surrounding speakers of the club. "I heard you were at CCG headquarters today, any reason why?" 

"You don't need to know." 

Juuzou pouts and snarles at John. He hates being kept out of he loop

and he knows John knows that. "You realize I'm a fully qualified investigator right?" He scoffs and glares at the taller man, the man who does his best to ignore him. "I should know what you mercenary types are doing poking around our main office... the CCG takes security seriously." 

"That's Exactly why they didn't give you a chair at the table." John grunts, and Juuzou squirms in anger. "You want to be included? Learn some restraint." John says. 

He knows he shouldn't antagonize the stitched investigator, that Juuzou is just as capable as he is. But he doesn't care at this point, it feels to good to tell him how he really feels. "You're too impulsive, you'd put us all in danger... again." 

Juuzou stops moving, and the table gets eerily quiet, all eyes on the stitched boy, watching for the tiniest reaction. But the stitched investigator is too fast to see, picking up a glass of water and smashing it into the face of the taller man sitting beside him. John instinctively reaches for the pistol in the covert holster on his hip, but Kim stops him, jumping in between him and the stitched investigator. "Dindu! Grab Juuzou!" She screams, wrestling with John to keep him from shooting the stitched investigator pressing from behind her, trying to climb over her head. "Dindu!" 

Dindu listens.... barely. Doing the bare minimum by grabbing the back Of Juuzou's collar with one hand and yanking him off of kim, holding his shirt as he flops about like a freshly caught salmon. "Calm yourself." The tan boy says before receiving a accidental elbow to the nose, making him instinctively release his grip in surprise as the table goes silent again, this time eyes on him. A visible, internal conflict rages out in the boys head, as his face changes from one of surprise to one of hostility, lunging forward at the Stitched man and wrapping his arms around his throat. "You just lost your living privileges!" He yells as he and the stitched man spill out of the booth and onto the floor. Juuzou thrashes around with the boy on his back, scraping at him with his nails in attempt to release his grip as Kim and Ai scream at them to stop. Dindu wraps his leg around the other boys torso, placing his shin behind the amputation nub of his other leg and squeezes the soul out of the other boy, Juuzous face turns bright red from the strain. 

"Stop!" Ai screams as she attempts to get the Afrikan boy to release his strangle on the smaller albino, pulling at his arms in a attempt to weaken his grip, to no avail. "If you kill him you can't sing!" She screams and the boys cyan eyes widen. "Let him go!"

The boy rolls his eyes, but releases his grip, pushing the stitched boy off of him as he gags and gasps, trying to take in large quantities of air but failing to do so. "You hit me, you deserved that." Dindu Says as he crawls back into the booth, being stopped by kims foot on his spine. He glances at her over his shoulder "What?" 

"Make up with him." She orders and the boy shakes his head in a negative way. "Help him up and make up with him... now." 

The boy rolls his eyes, but glances down at the boy, noticing the red, tear filled eyes staring up at him. The tears were involuntary, typically accompanying strangulation. "Let's ummmm, make up?" He says to the boy and glances over his shoulder at kim once again. "I did good yes? We're made up?" He asks, and Kim shoots him another look. "Damn bitch, you want me to fuck him?" 

Despite the lack of oxygen, the stitched boy lets out a low chuckle and then a loud laugh, clutching his stomach as euphoric hysteria floods his system. Kim starts laughing too, followed by John and Ai. The table explodes in a loud euphoric mess as those effected thrash around with laughter, leaving Dindu and Daigo staring at each other. 

"This happens everytime we go out.." Daigo explains, rolling his eyes at his sister before turning back to the tan boy. "It's really annoying, but it's usually smooth sailing after." 

"So, what do we do?" The tan boy asks. Daigo Just shrugs and smirks. "Well..... if you can't beat em." The both throw their heads back and engage in a fit of laughter. Did anyone order the whole wheat? Because this is wholesome. Why the fuck did I even put a joke there? Its terrible. Minus fifteen respect points.

The hostess approaches, a beautiful twenty two year old brunette in a skin tight green dress. Her name is Yuki Keneko, and she's Spectrum's newest hostess. She nervously makes her way to the group of laughing hyenas, but relaxes a little when she sees their ages and relizes all of them are young.... perhaps a bit too young, but she won't press on the issue. "Hello!" She says, trying to fight through her shy nature. "Welcome to Spectrum! Im your hostess, call me Yuki!" 

"Here Yuki, sit next to me." Ai says as she slides over, making a bit of room for the petite girl. She visibly resists the urge to hide her face as all eyes fall on her. 

"Im Yuki." She says again before blushing, a chuckle erupts from the table. "Hehe I already said that didn't I?...." 

"Don't worry about it Yuki-chan." Kim says and Dindu gives a inquisitive look. "In Japan you're supposed to put honorifics behind people's names." 

"I ain't doing that shit." 

Kim rolls her eyes and takes her attention away from the boy, putting Yuki into her sights again. "So Yuki, hows your first week going? Any trouble with the customers? I know it's hard to come out of your shell at first." 

"Ehhh It's been a little rough honestly, alot of the clients touch me and get too liquored up." She says, not making eye contact with anyone and keeping her head tilted, looking at the table. Kim notices this and decides to

Talk to her about it... later. "But some of the clients have been very nice as well, and bought me gifts." 

Kim chuckles at the girl as Youda arrives with that champagne bottle. Kim thanks her and he bows before walking off. "Anyways, don't get too trusting of those guys who buy you gifts, they might have ulterior motives." 

"You never know when a ghoul wants to snatch you up~" Juuzou sings while pulling on his stitches. "Trust me on that." 

Yuki almost asks him what he means, but Kims shakes her head and she gets the hint. "So, Ms.Martinez, who are your friends? Investors or something like that?" 

"Well that's my girl friend, Ai.." she says and Ai tilts her head at the new hostess. "Her brother Daigo." Daigo gives a wave and says hello. "My friends John and Juuzou.... Juuzou sit in the booth please." She says and hides her face.The albino slides next to Dindu and giggles at Yuki, earning a nervous laugh from the hostess. "And my cousin, Dindu." 

"Yo." 

"And yeah... that's everyone." Kim says, giving the girl a half smile. Yuki returns the grin before sinking back into the back of the booth, trying her best to become invisible. "Let me guess... you're used to working one on one, right?" 

The girl nods, giving a awkward smile but not making eye contact with anyone at the table. "Having so many people at once is a little... intimidating." 

Kim nods and looks around the table. "What you need is a distraction...." she says and looks around the table her eyes landing on her spaced out 'cousin'. "Dindu!..." she yells and the boys spaced out gaze snaps to her, his eyes flaring with surprise. "You wanna sing now?" 

The boys eyes flare again, this time with excitement as he crawls (literally) over the albino boy sitting next to him, rolling on the ground before standing on one foot, grabbing his crutch. "So I just go up there and sing?" The boy asks as he crawls up onto the stage. 

"Well you gotta pick a song first. See that pedestal?" The girl says and points to the black stand with a microphone on top of it. "Pick a song off that screen and the music will start to play." She instructs and the boy presses some buttons before pausing and looking down. "What's wrong?" 

"I don't know any of these songs...." the boy grumbles,

Scanning the computer on the pedestal with his eyes. "I just got here remember?" 

The girl crosses her arms and things for a few seconds. "Do they have Genesis?" She asks and the boy takes a minute to look through his options before nodding. "Sing that." 

The boy presses a few buttons and a prompt comes over the monitor with instructions. "So I just sing the words on the screen yeah?" He asks and the girl nods. "Then I think I'll go with.... Land of Confusion.... sounds relevant." He giggles as the lights around the stage fade, filtering into a dark blue. 

"I must've dreamed a thousand dreams

Been haunted by a million screams

But i can hear the marching feet

They're moving into the street." The boy sings in a smooth, sweet voice, catching everyone off guard by losing his usual, african accent. 

"Now did you read the news today

They say the danger's gone away

But i can see the fire's still alight

There burning into the night.

There's too many men

Too many people

Making too many problems

And not much love to go round

Can't you see

This is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth living in."

Daigo leans over and catches Kims attention. "He really puts his heart and soul into the song doesn't he?" The hazel eyed boy says and Kim nods. "How did you-" 

"Daigo!" Dindu screams from the top of the stage and almost loses his balance. "Shut the fuck up!" He yells and Daigo puts his hands up defensively, uttering a apology.

Dindu clears his throat and switches back to a singing voice and swaying his hips. 

"Ooh superman where are you now

When everything's gone wrong somehow

The men of steel, the men of power

Are losing control by the hour.

This is the time

This is the place

So we look for the future

But there's not much love to go round

Tell me why, this is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth living in.

I remember long ago -

Ooh when the sun was shining

Yes and the stars were bright

All through the night

And the sound of your laughter

As i held you tight

So long ago -

I won't be coming home tonight

My generation will put it right

We're not just making promises

That we know, we'll never keep.

Too many men

There's too many people

Making too many problems

And not much love to go round

Can't you see

This is a land of confusion.

Now this is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth fighting for.

This is the world we live in

And these are the names we're given

Stand up and let's start showing

Just where our lives are going tooooooooooo." He sings and then bows, receiving a drunken mess of applause. He jumps of the stage and lands on the groundin a clumsy fashion,nearly falling and snapping a crutch. "So how I do?" The boy asks, displaying his natural accent. 

"Wow Dindu I wasn't expecting that!" Ai says and makes the boy giggle. "You should sing with Kim next time, she's a great singer too!"

John leans over to talk to Kim, his dark brown eyes meeting her green ones. "I didn't know you could sing." He says and Kim gives off a kind smile. "You're not going to?" 

"Not tonight.." she says and takes a sip of champagne, swishing it in her mouth. "Wait shit, I can't drink, we gotta get up early tomorrow." She says and puts her glass down. 

"Im sure a little champagne won't hurt." John says and kim chuckles shaking her head. 

"We both know I can never commit to just a little champagne....." she says, handing him her glass, he chugs it down immediately. "Just make sure you're more comfortable with a hangover then I am." She says before watching her cousin scramble back into the booth, whispering across the table to Diago. "Speaking Of headaches.... I don't know what Im gonna do with him." 

"What do you mean? Isn't he going back to Africa?" John asks and Kim shoots him a glare. "That wasn't racist, it was a genuine question." 

Kim lets out a chuckle, her irritation washing away. "Sorry, been on edge since he got here." She says, watching as the boy spaces out next to Juuzou, who is also spacing out. It makes her uncomfortable. _Please don't be friends. _

"Was he a bad kid or something? You never mentioned him before." 

"He was a handful to say the least.....hehe." Kim chuckles, handful being a massive understatement. "But right now I just don't know what do do with him....." she says, her eyes landing on John again. "Hey John....." she says with a flirtatious grin, rubbing his upper thigh. "Do you think you can.." 

"No." John say plain, cutting her off but not bothering to move her hand. "I know what you're gonna ask and we both know I can't..... why not ask Rei or Daigo to watch him?" He says and she pouts and removes her hand. 

"Daigo's seventeen and Juuzous..... Juuzou." She says, taking some time to think. _I definitely don't trust Juuzou to keep him out of trouble...... Daigo's really my best bet _She concludes, setting her sights on the shy boy next to her, nudging his shoulder with hers to hit his attention. He looks up at her, tilting his head to the side. She pours him some champagne. "Daigo, you know I love you right?" 

"What do you want this time?" He says, accepting her liquid bribe. "You always try to get me drunk when you want something from me." 

_Clever bastard _she thinks, watching the boy gulp down his drink. Sure he's young, and maybe a bit naive. She knows that. But he's patient, emphatic, very intelligent, and very kinda..... perhaps a bit too kind for his own good. She knows this, but she's out of options. "How do you feel about Dindu staying over at your place for a while?" 

"Nani....." He says watching as she refilled his drink. "You want me to babysit?" He says shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know if I can....." 

"Sure you can!" Kim interupts, forcefully shoving the champagne glass in his mouth and making him guzzle it down. "You know Juuzou and I work for the CCG, and your sisters training for the olympics! So in a way by helping me, you'll be helping the entire country." 

"Well it's hard to argue with that logic..." the boy says, crossing his arms. "Alright....I guess." 

She throws her arms around his torso, squeezing him close."Thank you!" She says, rubbing her cheek again his face. "You're really helping me out here buddy boy." 

"Hehe don't worry about it. Whats the worst that can happen?" 

_Hopefully you won't find out._


	7. Tail

"So, Arima...." John says, glancing over at the white reaper sitting in his passenger seat. "Any reason why were keeping the rest of the CCG in the dark? My presence had to have caused a bit of stir right?" 

"Can't say for sure Albia." The man says, keeping his stoic demeanor. "But you already know I can't give you much information." 

"Atleast tell me what were doing? I feel like a over paid taxi driver." John admits, keeping his eyes on the road. When he was asked to assist the CCG, he expected a seek and destroy type of objective, only he's not sure what he's supposed to be seeking. How is he supposed to be on the lookout if he doesn't even know his target? "We both know you're blind in one eye." 

The reaper chooses to

Ignore Johns comment, staying focused on siting in silence. "We're not looking for anything in in particular, we're waiting." He says, as cryptically as possible. If there's one thing John missed the least about working with Arima, it was the thick veil of secrecy surrounding him. "I'll tell you when it's time to move." 

"Move where?" John snaps, the frustration finally becoming too much for him. "You want my help? You clue me in! Im not your subordinate anymore remember? Im a outside party." 

"Oi, that's enough..." Arima raises his voice and puts his hand up, silencing John. "Focus on the radio, we need to wait for the signal." 

John grumbles but obliges, leaning back in his silent car and waiting for... whatever. It takes thirty two minutes before the first signal comes on through the police radio scanner. "Green van heading south bound on Yamata, license plate 'ろ46-47' contact with crucible in twenty seconds." 

"Thats the signal, blend into traffic." Arima instructs and John pulls out of his parking space and into the thick of typical rush hour traffic, crawling through the streets at a gruelingly slow pace in his bright yellow, CCG gifted impala. "Do you see him?" Arima asks and checks the Impalas mirrors. 

John catches it immediately, three cars back, next lane over, turning left at the next intersection. Caucasian driver, a foreigner to Japan. "Got him." John says before switching lanes, ending up two cars in front of the vehicle he's interested in. "Shit, he's behind us..." he curses, spinning up escape scenarios in his head. Arima reaches in between his knees and pulls out a special gun rig used to look around corners called a corner shot. He holds the rig across his chest and lets the special arm twist around his seat, the rigs camera crosshairs landing on the man in the green van. "What are you doing?" 

"Taking a photograph." Arima says plainly, using the rigs camera to his advantage. "Need to keep profiles, wouldn't you agree?" He says, continuing to take pictures as John makes a left hand turn, sighing in relief when the van follows him onto the one way street he's currently on. Arima puts the rig back between his legs and pulls out his cell phone, texting information to some anonymous source. John gives him a puzzled look and Arima explains "I don't wanna risk him seeing the radio." 

John nods, and keeps his eyes on the van, trying his best to not appear suspicious, but after ten minutes down the long, one way street he's faced with a tough choice ahead. "There's a right turn coming up." He points out, putting his hand on the blinker but waiting for Arima's input. The man nods and John swipes the lever, activating the turn signal and making a very inconspicuous turn, nearly side swiping a parked car. 

"Eyes on the road John." 

"Shit, sorry." He says as the van forgoes the turn in favor of going straight, making John slap the wheel with frustration. "He went straight..." he says as Arima grabs the radio, updating the vans course and last known location. 

"Takes us near tokyo tower, please." Arima says and John follows his orders. "I have a reason." 

John knows that even if he asks, Arima will refuse to clarify. He drives in silence toward tokyo tower, keeping a ear out for any additional Radio signals. Arima's phone buzzes, and he picks in up. 

"Yes?...." he says, and John can hear muttered chatter through the phones speaker. "I see... I'll let him know." He says and flips his phone, ending the call. "Would you like the good news, or the bad news first?" 

"Good news." 

"The good news is Investigator Martinez followed the van to a warehouse on the edge of Kamorochos industrial district." He says, reaching behind his seat and grabbing his quinquee disguised as a suitcase. "The bad

News is that white Honda has been following us for the last six minutes." He says plainly. Johns eyes widen as he looks in the mirror, staring down the four individuals wearing matching black suits. "Take us up north, cant risk a fight with civilians around." 

"Right...." He says watching the Honda behind him. _Something feels off _ he says, subconsciously unstrapping the pistol hidden on his waist under his suit jacket. _I hope Kims having better luck then I am. _

_—————————————-_

There orders were to simply wait outside the ware house and monitor it until back up arrived, but when the cargo in the back of the van turned out to be victims of human trading, Sato couldn't contain himself. "I can't just sit back and watch!" He screams at his partner and she avoids his distraught gaze. "I joined the CCG to make sure that what happened to Hana never happened to anyone else again!" 

Hana Sato, his sister. Reported missing June 3rd 2007, found dead August 6th 2009. She had been yet another un deserving victim of ghoul owned underground human trafficking rings. She was kidnapped, addicted to drugs, and sent around the country to have sex with those who would pay for it. Eventually her tormentors decided she wasn't worth keeping alive anymore, slitting her throat and throwing her in a river, only to have her wash up on

Some Japanese beach. She was nine years old. 

"Amida..." she says, putting her hands up and trying desperately to calm the man down. "We can't, not by ourselves...." 

"Then stay in the fucking car!" He screams before getting out of the red Impala and slamming the door shut, a Quinque briefcase in his hand. Kim battles herself, deciding what Kim Martinez would do. 

_Fuck it. _

"Sato! Wait for me!" She yells in a hushed tone, getting out of the car and rushing to the trunk of The impala, retreating her backstrap containing her twin quinquee Ratan sticks. Usually the CCG issues a false briefcase for investigators, but she has a affinity for firearms, and a brief case would hinder her abilities. She grabs he Mp5 and races off, meeting up with Sato in front of the side gate of the Warehouse. 

"Stay behind me, big-shot...." she says before making her way into the compound, hiding behind a parked car as a ghoul escorts a hostage into the warehouse. Sato nearly stands before pulling him back into concealment. "Wait...." she whispers, pointing at the foot of a second ghoul poking out a inch infront of the corner. "He has back up." 

"I'll kill them all...." he growls and she struggles to keep him under control, grabbing him by the tie. He smacks her hand away and charges forward, catching the attention of the two girls. "Die!" He screams, activating his quinquee, the briefcase shifting into a one handed ax. He catches the first ghoul off guard, burying the blade of the ax in his for head before the second ghoul runs out of cover toward him, leaving Kim no choice but to shoot him down with a automatic volley of Q bullets. 

She jogs over to her partner as he wiggles the ax out of the Ghouls head. "God damn it Sato!" She yells pushing him towards the entrance from behind. "Now they know we're here!" 

"I told you to stay in the car!" 

"If I did you'd be dead already!" She screams back as he stacks up on the other side of the door. She composes herself and nods, signaling the man to pull the door handle and allow her to filter through, checking her corners as she flys into the warehouse. "Clear!" She yells, signaling the man the filter in after her. They press forward, the man keeping his free hand on Kims upper back. Luckily for them, the warehouse seems to be light on Ghouls. 

Sato hears movement behind him, and he drags Kim behind a pillar to stay out of sight, but just a fraction of a second too slowly. 

"Doves!" The ghoul screams, and kim peaks out of cover to shoot at him. The ghoul gets winged in the shoulder, but it just serves to piss her off. "I'll feast on your bones!" The ghoul screams and charges forward, using her koukaku type kagune to shield her face and upper body. Kim crouches and bends to the side, firing at Then woman's knees. The girl falls just a few feet infront of them, and Sato capitlizes, bring the ax down onto the back of her head. His head snapping to the sound of another contact.

"Hostile front!" He screams before a hail of kagune needles rips into his stomach and thigh, the bright red needles sticking out of him as he clatters to the ground, groaning as he impacts the cement. 

"Sato!" Kim screams as the man starts to bleed, dark red blood staining his bright blue suit. She turns her attention the the approaching ghoul.... a ghoul with golden wings. "Hermes....." the girl says, taking aim at the A-rated ghoul. _Could Kim beat this? _She asks herself. 

"Oh, you know me?" The ghoul snickers through his golden mask, dawning the same black robe she saw him in just a few days earlier. "I don't recognize you, girl." The ghoul groans before letting out a heavy growl. "Interesting...." 

Kim doesn't wait for him to finish talking, instead emptying her clip into the mans chest, he doesn't even bother blocking the shots, and simply accepts the bullets, letting out a little chuckle. "Looks like you're running on empty girl...." 

He bolts forward, and kim narrowly rolls under his massive wing, the blades scraping her scapula as she rolls behind the larger ghoul. The ghoul grunts and staresndown at the bleeding man at his feet. "Don't you fucking touch him!" She screams and un sheeths her Kali sticks, activating the quinquee tips. 

"Heh... guess I'll have to touch you first, girl." He grumbles and lashes one of his wings forward. She deflects his wing and moves in, attempting to bridge the gap between them. She swings at the ghouls face, but he catches the stick, twisting it out of her grip before slamming her into the concrete pillar, his hand on her throat. He sniffs the air around her and growls. "Why do you lack a scent?" He growls, tightening his grip on her throat. "You're not ...." 

She cuts him off by jamming her fingers in his eyes, making the let go out of shock. "Don't smell me you sick fuck!" She screams, smashing her ratton sticks into the mans mask over and over and over again before he manages to kick her away. "Just hang in there Sato!" She screams, using herself as a barrier between the ghoul and her unconscious partner. 

A concussion blast rips through her, making her stagger as a mess of muzzle flashes and smoke fill the hallway. The Ghouls body shakes and shatters, the large monster falling to his knees before firing a mass of needles at the doorway, a large man with a assault rifle narrowly avoiding injury by jumping into cover. "Damn heretics, you'll all fall!" The ghoul screams before retreating into the bowels of the warehouse, having the large man and his female companion storm the building, making there way to the investigators. 

"You alright Miss Martinez?" The man asks, as his friend keeps lookout. The man lowers his black shimagaginan to allow kim to identify him. 

"Hey Marcus..." she says, greeting the leader of Garuda team. "Im alright, but Sato got clipped."' She says, kneeling next to her partner. The needles on his arm are deep and the needles on his chest are just as bad. If she pulls them out he'll bleed to death in a few minutes. "Can you call for medevac?" Kim asks and the leader of Garuda team nods. "Hang in there Sato...." she whispers in the investagators ear just seconds before the man slips out of consciousness. 

"Can you stay here while Katie and I go after him?" 

"Fuck no." She says, replacing her empty MP5 mag with a fresh one. "I'd appreciate some back up though." She says and the man agrees. 

"Katie! Stay with the boy. We're going hunting." 

————————————————

"Alley way right, splints two ways, one way street on north end, empty lot to the east." Arima says, going over the plan to ambush the ghoul following them. "Leave the car, let them bottle neck over. You keep the range and I'll deal with any who get too close." 

John nods as he brings the car through the narrow alleyway, Waiting for a opening to get out of the car. The white Honda had been keeping there distance, but a UAV overhead confirms they're still inbound. 

John reaches behind Arima's seat and grabs the butt of the hidden M4 assault rifle with special Q bullets. "Bail in 3.... 2.....1." John orders as they get to the double sided clearing, Arima bolts into the alley while John climbs on top the impala, sprawling out with weapons forward. He watches, waiting for his marks to make a appearance. A object blocks out the sun and John looks up to see A falling Bikaku lunging straight at him. "Damn!" He yells, rolling off the impala and narrowly avoiding being impailed. He lands flat on his back with a grunt, firing off a automatic blast of bullets at the ghoul before rolling backwards, onto his feet. The Ghouls kagune lunges at him again, and he slides right under it, slipping it over his shoulder like a boxer would for a jab. A hail of bullets hits the ghoul before it even realizes he missed, a headshot to a ghoul may not do much, but eight is a kill. 

_Quick and painless _John thinks to himself as the Ghoul falls off the impala and onto the ground, its face and skull ripped in half from the coated lead. _Distraction! _The mental alarm in Johns head rings out as he grabs a concussion grenade off his belt and bounces it off the wall and around the corner. A blast rippled through the area, amplified by the narrow alleyway, but John saw the shadows of absent light caused by the three Ghouls around the corner. _Gotcha! _

Garuda six jumps ontop of the impala and sets his sights on the three ghoul, mowing them down with quick, surgical precision. The barrel of his rifle smokes as he replaces his spent magazine. He climbs over the car and walks towards the corpses and starts kicking them, making sure they're truly dead. "I got four KIA over here Arima!" 

"I got three!" Arima says around the corner. John mentally high fives himself for out scoring the CCG's reaper of death. "Come to me, keep me covered." The investigator orders and Jon obliges, climbing ontop of the car and jumping over the cracked windshield and concaved hood. 

_Were gonna need a new ride _John tells himself. 

"Nice work." The pale man says, looking down at the chopped up body's around him. He begins rolling up the sleeves on their shirts and slacks as John keeps a eye out for any unwanted attention. "I think I found something." He says, and John looks over at the symbol tattooed on the dead ghouls neck. 

"It kinda looks like a 4." John points out as Arima snaps a few picture of the symbol. "Nuh uh..." John grumbles, and takes out his cell phone. Arima asks him what he's doing, and John shoots him a distrusting glare. "Im taking photographs so you don't keep Garuda team in the dark like I know you want to." John says before forwarding the photos to Locke. "Some day you'll be thankful were here." 

"I am thankful..." Arima says, not letting his stoic personality affect his sincerity. "But the CCG still thinks of you as a third party, I can't give you unauthorized information." He explains as John only half listens, not really caring for the explanation. 

"Sure Arima." 

"You can grumble at me all you want Albia..." the reaper says before taking out his cell phone. "But it's not my decision to keep you In the dark." 

"Right..." 

————————————————— 

The warehouse was unexpectedly empty, Kim was expecting atleast a few bodys or a few hostages, but the warehouse was completely bare. Which of course leads the the question of who those to 'human trafficking victims' were earlier. And what the point of surevaling that van was in the first place! 

"This doesn't make sense." Kim grumbles to Marcus as they Ride in the ambulance with Sato, there destination being the CCG hospital located next to the main office in Tokyo. "Not even a drop of blood in the entire warehouse...." 

"Isn't it obvious Ms.Martinez...." Marcus says, while texting someone on his phone, not bothering to look up at the girl across from him. "Your superiors used you as bait." 

"Bait?" 

"You're the worm, The ghouls are the fish, I'm the hook and the CCG is the fisherman." 

"I mean why would they do that? Why give us a false objective?" 

The man shrugs his shoulders, finally putting his phone back into the pocket of his black camouflage fatigues. He crosses his arms and says "They probably have some alterer motive, wouldn't you agree?" 

She shrugs 

"I guess...." 

_At what point does Kim Martinez need to fade away? And let the real me take control?_


	8. Puppy

When Dindu learned he was going to be living with Daigo he wasn't sure what to think. His first night here was pretty relaxed, Kim dropped him off with a bag and left, not even telling Dindu about his past like she had promised him. Obviously this left him bitter, but he was determined to stick it out....... until now. Sure, Daigo is very kind and always does his best to make Dindu feel comfortable. 

BUT HE'S OBSESSED WITH BOARD GAMES! Battleship, Bingo, Connect four, fucking chess! Dindu cant take it anymore. 

"Go fish? More like go fuck yourself!" Dindu screams and Daigo's cards fall to the ground. He's trying his best, but the boys been on edge since he got here. 

Daigo gives off a awkward chuckle and lets his shoulders drop, not losing his trademark smile. "Okay, what would you like to do then?" 

"Let's go out!" He says, flopping backwards on the floor, making circles with his nubby leg. "I don't like staying cooped up inside for so long." 

"It's eleven in the morning...." 

"So? It's late somewhere." 

"Okay.......where do yo wanna go?" He asks, watching the boy wiggle his half leg in the air. "I can't drive, so it can't be too far okay?" 

"Do you have animals here?" The boy asks and Daigo rolls his eyes at being ignored. 

"We have cats..." 

"Oh!" The boy says, shooting uo with some extra excitement. "Lets go see some cats! I like cats! Where 

Are 

The 

Cats

?"

"There's a cat cafe a mile away or so, but Kim asked me not to take you too far." Daigo says, immediately being ignored by Dindu as he jumps to his foot and hops to his crutches. "Did you not hear a word I just said?!?!?" 

"Did you say something?" The boy asks as he dances towards the door, making Daigo roll his eyes and sigh. 

"Can I atleast get my shoes on?" Daigo asks, but the boy was already out the door. "Fuck..." 

He scrambles to put on his sneakers and dashes out, catching up to the slow moving boy who's not even going the right direction. 

Daigo watches the boy carefully as they make their way to the cafe, making sure he doesn't wander into traffic or fall off the sidewalk. He has a habit of swaying when he swings on his crutches, giving Daigo anxiety. 

"Slow down!" Daigo screams as the boy maneuvers in between a couple holding hands, not bothering to apologize. Daigo does it for him, muttering, "Sorry" as he jogs around the couple. 

Kitty's Cafe, is a quaint, small building where cat lovers from all over the city can relax, socialize with some cats, drink coffee and enjoy a good book. You can argue that the cafe could double as a library, a massive bookshelf practically overflowing with literature from all around the planet. From Dr.Seuss to Sun Tzu, the cafe has it all in a variety of languages. English, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese make up a bulk of the selection. 

Daigo looks over the books, reading is a bit of a hobby of his and he could use the distraction right now. His eyes fall onto '_Astrophysics for People in a Hurry' _By Niel Degrass Tyson, freshly translated into Japanese. 

"This will do..." he whispers to himself, picking the book off the shelf and walking over to the large couch and sitting next to a half asleep brown kitten. 

"Don't wake him....." Dindu whispers, laying flat on the ground to let the cats climb all over him. "He'll scratch you if you do." 

"How do you know that?" 

"His tail's flickering...." He says, cuddling up with a large black cat. The cat purrs and closes his eyes. "My Lion used to do the same thing." 

"Is that how you lost the leg?" Daigo asks while flipping through his educational book. He glances up and notices the boy sitting up and scowling at him, his blue eyes narrowed with a terrifying focus . Daigo makes a silent note not the bring the leg up again. "Sorry..." 

The boys face falters and his usual, cheerful eyes widen again, focusing on a orange cat rubbing against his arm. 

They spend a good amount of time there, too much time. Daigo catches himself dozing off a few times and eventually falls asleep, only to be awoken when his book falls out of his hand and loudly clatters on the ground, scaring the cats around him. On cat that had snuck onto his lap while he was sleeping scratches Daigos thigh before scurrying off. 

"Oww!" Daigo screams in pan and surprise before realizing he's still at the cafe. One of the workers approaches him, a different person then the one who was her when they first arrived. 

"Are you okay sir?" The man asks, bringing Daigo a towel with a cat patch stitched into it. "That's beth, she has a habit of doing that." 

"Im fine..." Daigo says. It's quite..... too quiet. "Dindu!" Daigo says, jumping at the realization that the boy he's responsible for is missing. The workers eyes snap to Daigo and he asks whats wrong. "Have you seen a five foot seven boy with one leg and blue eyes around?" 

The worker jumps and scratches the back of his neck nervously. "I actually just got here." The man say, and pushes the towel forward. Daigo groans and takes it using it to wipe the cat hair off him, he catches a glimpse of outside and realizes its dark. 

"Wh-what time is it?" 

The worker checks his watch. "9:30..." he says, and Daigo digests this information. The worker looks at him with concern "something wrong, sir?" 

Daigo reaches into his pocket and grabs his phone. "Oh shit..." he grumbles after reading that he has twenty four missed calls and twice as many texts, all from his sister and Kim. He decides to bite the bullet and call kim to confess. 

"Daigo!" She screams, making the boy visibly flinch. "Where the fuck are you!? Where's my cousin!?!?" 

"I don't know..." 

"What do you mean you don't know!?" 

"I fell asleep... and he was just gone." 

————————————————- 

While Daigo is getting chewed out on the telephone, Dindu is having the time of his life exploring Tokyo. The sounds, the sights, the smells, even the people, so unique, so alien and captivating it was to the one legged boy who crutched around the city. 

The watch Kim had given him beeps around his wrist and he reaches into his pocket and grabs the tin cylinder contraining 'special blueberries', poping two into his mouth. Kim had instructed him to take two blueberries every six hours. He doesn't know why, but he's been compliant.... so far. 

"Ugghhh" He gags, not at all enjoying the after taste the blue berries provided. "Why does it always catch me off guard??" he asks himself, moving through one of the tokyo alleyways to avoid being caught in a large crowd. He blends into the darkness and hops around, lifting the crutches off the ground and just using his one leg. 

He makes his way through the alley and eventually finds himself in the middle of a street full of bars, much lower class then the metropolitan city he was just in. "_Uhhh, I don't know where I am._" He whispers to himself in Summarian before giggling. 

In the distance he sees a puppy, a happy little German Shepherd pup small enough to be under Dindu's knee. He admired the pup from a distance, grinning as its tail wags furiously, playing with someone around a corner That Dindu can't see. The boy jumps when the dog is suddenly hit by a rock, letting out a high pitched yelp of pain. It took the boy a second to register what had happened, but once it does his eyes flare in a fit of rage as he crutches towards the injured pup as fast as he could. 

He could hear laughter reverberating from around the corner. "Okay, me next! I'll hit it for sure this time!" The teen chuckles, hurling another rock at the poor injured puppy. Dindu barely arrives in time, smacking the rock away with his crutch. 

The group of eight teenagers get quite and look at eachother, assessing the situation. "Hey kid, that your dog?" A chubby teen says earning a groan from the larger, older guy behind him. 

"Who the fuck cares?" The man says, slapping the chubby boy on the back of the neck before pushing him to the side. "Ey boy..." The man yells, and Dindu narrows his eyes. "Move, or we'll throw rocks at you too." 

Dindu lets out a furious growl, one that sounds like it should hurt his throat with its powerful reverberations. "Does it make you feel strong?" The boy taunts, acting as a barrier between the bullys and the puppy. "Picking on a poor defenseless pup? All eight of you?" He says. The teenagers don't seem to appreciate the back talk. Dindu turns his back on them, trying to scoop the dog up in his arms. A rock collides the back of his head and the amputee explodes in a fit of rage, turning and throwing one of his crutches like a spear and hitting a blond teen in the chest, knocking the boy down. "You waited till I turned my back? You fucking cowards!" 

"Shut up boy!" The larger man says, and Dindu assumes he's the alpha of the group. He stands right infront of the one legged boy, using his size in a attempt to intimidate the amputee. "You think just because you only have one leg we wont beat on you?" 

Eight against one isn't exactly a good set of odds, and Dindu knows it. In addition to that he's never been in a actual fight without his prosthetic before. But his mind was already made up. 

He throws his head back before slamming his skull into the mans sternum, knocking the wind out of him before knocking him down with a well placed elbow that leaves as gash above the eyebrow. 

_Alright, seven on one _Dindu notes while planning out his movements. Seven is a odd number, and they're more then likely going to circle around him. Two of them will be bunched together, that will be the strong side. And that will most likely be the two largest figures, in the front mad dogging him. 

"Roshi!" A skinny teenager screams, rushing over to the newly downed man. "Roshi! Are you o-." He doesn't get to finish his sentence as Dindu smashes his remaining crutch into the side of the teens skull, nearly toppling himself over with the momentum.

He was expecting the gang to be a bit more coordinated then this, and he admits he was mistaken. "One at a time isn't a viable strategy, ya know?" The boy taughts, egging on the six adversaries he had left "Can we move this along? I wanna get back to my self guided tour." 

"What did you do that for!" Another teen screamed, moving diagonally towards Dindu. _They never learn_ Dindu thinks to himself while tracking the boy with his eyes, being blind sided by a heavy object that smashes into the side of his skull. His vision fades for a moment, coming back into focus as a shovel is brought down, hurling towards his face. 

The boy snaps into action, blocking the metal head of the shovel with his crutch, before kicking the man wielding it in the head, his shin colliding with the mans cheek bone. The crutch is bent, rendering it useless, so instead of using it to steady himself he rolls backwards and land on his foot, swinging the broken crutch like a baseball bat and smashing it into a boy who was about to bum rush him. Of course this left with nothing to stop his momentum with, so he leans back on his stub leg, sitting in a combat position. 

_I'll have to adopt a new style of movement _Dindu decided, not willing to let his disability disable him. A guy with a mohawk to his right and a blond to the left, nearly behind him. The mohawk tries to kick him, the kick is diagonal like any basic round house kick, but it's ill timed, and he's too close. Dindu shoots off his good leg and collides his shoulder into the mans leg, bringing him to the ground. 

"Stupid!..." He throws a punch "Morherfucking!" A elbow "Cunt!" A knee. One two three and he's out, unconscious, skip to REM. 

"Im the cure for insomnia!" The boy screams before rolling off the unconscious boy, back into a combat stance with his nub on the ground. "Who's next?" 

A man wearing a leather jacket to Dindu's right shoots his hand out, attempting to grab the boys bright red shirt. The amputee snatches the man by the wrist before wrapping his normal leg around the mans arm in a lasso guard, spinning on his back and extending his leg, launching the man over him and smashing him onto the concrete, still wrapping his arm up in his leg. Fighting on the streets isn't like fighting in a ring, you don't go for submissions, you break shit. 

"Bad luck for you." The Afrikan boy giggles before slamming his knee into the mans ulna, shattering his forearm and prompting the man to scream loudly in pain. "Ohhh that's nasty." The boy says, poking the protruding bone. "You're gonna have to learn how to jack off with the left hand for a while." 

"Sora!" The chubby boy screams and Dindu glares at him, judging his motives. _He hasn't moved_ Dindu notes, deciding what to do. _Either he's alot smarter then the others, or he had no intention of fighting me in the first place. _

"Your move chubby!" Dindu taunts, rolling backwards and back into his combat stance. The chubby teen walks forward and Dindu plans his next ten movements, but relaxes when the man just drags his injured friend away from the tan boy. Dindu feels a reverberation on the ground and he swings around just in time to recive a diagonal slice from a pocket knife across his chest, tearing the fabric of his new shirt as it slices his skin. Roshi, the alpha, slices the air in a attempt the stab the smaller boy. Dindu rolls backwards, kicking the man in the face on his was up before planting his foot and launching over the man, ending up on his back. "That hurt!" Dindu screams in a state of feral rage, throwing technique out the window and instead choosing to burry his teeth into the mans exposed arm, ripping out a chunk of flesh from the mans tricep and making him drop the knife while screaming loudly as Dindu gets a late night snack. "You might be a piece of shit..." The boy taunts, swallowing the flesh before bringing his palm down on the mans elbow, breaking his arm in half and leaving it facing the wrong way. "But you sure taste good." 

"Stop!" The chubby boy screams, putting his hands up. "Okay! You win! We're leaving!" The teen begs, and Dindu flashes his bloody teeth at him. 

"You think I'm done?" The boy growls with a multilayered voice. "Im just starting!" He screams, turning his attention back to the man he's on top of. "You deserve this..." and just as he's about to sink his teeth into the man again, he's swatted off by a well placed shovel strike to the side, affectively knocking the boy off his prey and onto his back. He braces for another hit, but it never comes and he looks up to see the chubby boy grabbing the man by his caller and hoisting him to his feet, screaming at him to run

"When's the last time you ran for anything you fat fuck!" The Afrikan screams as the eight former tough guys limp and run and scream, getting as far away from the amputee as they could. 

A unexpected wave of nausea hits the boy and he lays flat on his back, closing his eyes as he soaks up the aches and stings around his body. "_Why aren't I healing" _

He jumps when he feels something soft and wet slide against the cut on his right cheek and he opens his eye, being rewarded with attention from the puppy he fought to protect. The boy wraps his arm around the pup and brings it to his chest, embracing the pup as gently as he could. "Good girl." He says and just lays on the concrete, the pup making no attempt to escape the boys grasp and instead embraces the attention, its tail wagging and gently hitting the boys stomach. They lay their for some time, Dindu not bothering to care if hours or minutes passed by, but he's eventually greeted by the pitter patter of approaching foot steps. 

"Are you okay?" The shy voice says, and Dindu opens his eyes to inspect the stranger. Fair skin, black hair, grey eyes wide with concern. This boy is obviously shaken by the tan boys beaten and bloody body. "You're bleeding pretty badly..." the boy managed to say after letting out a shaky breath. 

"Nothing gets by Sherlock Holmes...." the Afrikan boy chuckles, closing his eyes again. He considers waving the boy off, and waiting for the wounds to close by themselves, but they haven't yet and he's starting to grow concerned. "You got any bandaids?" 

"No... I'm sorry." The boy appolgizes.

Dindu chuckles and rolls his eyes at the innocent boy, a piece of him likes the genuine, caring attitude. 

"I was kidding...." he says. The strangers eyes widen, but he lets out a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his neck. "But in all seriousness, Im losing quite a bit of blood." 

"Well I umm...I-I'll!.." The boy stutters, battling his mind. He feels obligated to help but simply doesn't know what to do. "I'll call you a ambulance!" 

"No!" The boy screams, startling the puppy on his chest. He lowers his voice and whispers "I'm supposed to be hidden, that means I can't go to the hospital..." 

the grey eyed boy whimpers, and Dindu feels guilty because of it. "I'll be fine on my own if..." 

"I have a medical kit at my house." The boy interrupts, helping the injured boy to his feet.....foot. "Oh... you.." 

"Yes." The boy interrupts, wrapping a arm around the stranger to steady himself. "It's gone." 

A mile isn't far, but when you're wobbling on one foot and dizzy from blood loss a mile can take a eternity. To puppy trailed behind, licking up the drops of blood the boy leaves behind. It's easy to hide injuries under the cover of darkness, especially when your aura soaks up light. However this didn't stop the boy from being stared at on his way to the apartment, something that troubled him even more then the injuries. The stairs were a fucking Herculean task, and the boy almost bursts into tears, never before had he felt so weak. 

"Im sorry I got blood on your jacket." The boy mumbles, sitting on a stool in the strangers bathroom. "It was so white..." the boy says, starting to fade out of consciousness. He jolts awake when the stranger catches him. 

"Stay awake!" The boy yells, cutting the boys shirt off with a pair of scissors. "Whats your name?" 

_Keep me engaged, good _Dindu thinks, trying his best to remain conscious. "My name? Uhh... Dindu." The boy says. 

"Im Kaneki...." the stranger reveals, using cotton balls to soak up all the blood from the various scratches on the boys back. He grabs a bottle of alcohol from the medicine cabinet over the sink, pouring some of it onto a couple cotton balls. "This is gonna sting.." 

It was bearable, even a tad bit enjoyable. The boy liked feeling the sensation the bubbles provided between the gashes in his flesh. They cleaned his back, the slash in his chest, the gash on his cheek. It was a new experience for the boy, he's never needed medical care before. The bleeding had stopped, the cuts were cleaned, a few bandages were placed on the wounds and most importantly, the dog was fed. 

However, that slash across his chest is too deep to just ignore, which means Kaneki will have to take desperate actions. 

"Just so you know, I've never done this before....." Ken says, holding the needle and red stitch string. "I've seen my brother stitch himself, but I've never stitched anyone." 

"Well nows a good a time as any..." Dindu moans, too to care for the boys explanation. The needle pierces the skin fro the top down as the boy slowly stitches the wound closed, pausing every few seconds to ask the boy if he's okay. "Focus on the job." Was what the boy said to finally shut Ken up. Once he's done, Ken hands Dindu a handheld mirror so he can see his work. 

"Not bad for a first timer."


	9. Rei

Dindu has spent the last two days At Kaneki's house, along with Molly, the german shepherd puppy. It's been quite, boring actually, Ken has insisted that Dindu take his time and heal, reassuring the boy over and over again that his presence is no problem. So Dindu listened, icing his bruises, stretching his arms and spending a majority of his time with the dog. However today was different, and may prove to be interesting indeed. 

It didn't take long for Dindu to learn Ken Kaneki's attributes, both physically and mentally. He memorized his speech patterns, his movements, the way he chuckles when he gets nervous or how his hips pointed slightly to the right when he gets impatient. He has light, quite footsteps, moving from his heel to his toe with every step, never once stomping as he walked. But the footsteps coming up the stairs reverberated through the building with a certain vigor that Kaneki doesn't possess, meaning who ever was jiggling the door handle wasn't Kaneki. 

Dindu rolls of the couch, crouching into cover behind the kitchen counter as the door swings open and a cheerful voice rings out. "Kaneki~" the voice sings and the figure skips on the hard wood ground. "Where are you bro?" 

"Molly!" The hidden boy whispers as the pup sprints past him, greeting who ever was on the other side of the counter. 

"Ehh, hello puppy." The voice rings out as the weight on the floor shifts. Dindu could tell the figure was crouching. _Well, safe to assume he's not here for any murdery endeavors _Dindu notes, getting up from the ground to finally get a look at the albino figure petting Molly. The figure notices him too, and his eyes widen im recognition. "I know you!" 

"Uhh, stitches yeah?" The boy says, leaning over the counter and ignoring the pain in his chest. Juuzou looks up at the boy, his eyes half closed with slight offense. 

"My names Juuzou, not Stitches." The boy whines, making the Afrikan roll his eyes. Juuzou, takes his fingers a pinches himself on the thigh, making his finger nails white. "What are you doing here anyways? And why is that bandage on your face?" 

Dindu grips the cloth on his face, still forgetting its existence at times. "I got in a fight." He says. It's not like he's lying, he DID get into a fight after all, so why is he nervous? Is it because Juuzou knows Kim? And he might tell her where he's been staying and what he's been doing? Yep. 

"You're not gonna tell Kim right?" 

"Ehh, she's been looking for ya you know..." the albino says, mentally weighing the pros and cons of keeping a secret. "But I guess I won't ............" He says smirking up at the taller boy.

"You want something." 

"Yep!" The boy chimes out, Jumping onto Ken's couch and snuggling with the blanket. "You have to get me something to eat!" 

"You... want food?" The boy asks and the albino confirms, nodding his head while playing with the stitches on his fingers. "That's not very specific." 

"Something sweet. Surprise me..." 

"You expect me to just hop around the city tryin to guess whats sweet and whats not?" 

"Ehh, what do you mean?" 

"I have one fucking leg!" 

The albino leans off the couch to get a good look at the boys

half leg, sighing when he sees it. He had forgotten all about the amputation. "Well don't you have crutches?" 

"No." 

Juuzou lets out a loud groan and covers his face with both hands. "I just want something sweet..." The boy whines, sitting up on the couch so molly can jump up next to him. He scratches the dog behind the ear. "Why did you leave anyways?" 

The boy crawls his way over to the couch, lifting his nub leg off the ground as he walls on all three limbs. He sits on a chair next to the couch as Juuzou patiently waits for a reply. "Hmmmm, I didn't mean to run away..." the boy says, leaning over to pet the pup greeting him. "I just wanted to explore the city for a little bit." 

"Well... why didn't you go back?" 

The tan boy shrugs. "I don't know.... I think I hate her." He says, twiddling his thumbs and refusing to make eye contact with the albino and the dog. "Well maybe not hate.... but I don't like her." 

"Yeah I think I getcha~" he boy sings, picking at the stitches on his lip, a nervous habit he possessed. "I feel that way sometimes too." The albino says, and they sit in silence for a minute before his curiosity peaks again. "What did she do?" 

"She broke her promise...." 

"What promise?" 

"It's personal."

"Well.... I'm a person." The boy says, making the Afrikan giggle. Juuzou hums a little song and pets the dog behind her ear. "So Cmon, tell me." Dindu exhales loudly, debating what he should tell the albino. He can't tell him the truth, not the full truth atleast. But maybe he doesn't need to lie? 

"My name... I don't know it." 

"I thought your name was didgeridoo or something?" 

"Dindu..." the Afrikan corrects, and Juuzou pouts as his joke falls flat. Dindu ignores him and proceeds. "But that's not my real name, I don't know my real name. I don't know my parents or if I have any siblings. I don't even know how I lost my leg." He says. 

Juuzou glances over at the boy, noticing he wont make eye contact, won't lift his head. It's almost familiar. 

The albino chuckles and the Dindu finally looks up to him, his head cocked curiously to the right. "You're just making me nostalgic~" the boy sings and giggles. "I had alot of questions too when I was your age." 

"Hmmm?" 

"Well..... Did you know my names not Juuzou?" 

"It's not?" 

"Nuh Uhh." 

"Then.... what is it?" 

Juuzou pauses, playing with the stitches on his arm, pulling them out of his skin. He needs to re stitch himself anyways. "My real name is Rei." He says, licking his bleeding arm. "Rei Suzuya." 

Dindu watches the boy clean his arm with his tongue. He's strange, that much is clear. But is he a genuine person? As far as Dindu could tell, yes. 

"I'll tell you my real name.... when I learn what it is anyway." 

"So, you're gonna talk to Kim?" 

"Nah bruh, fuck that bitch." 

"Then.... how are you gonna learn your real name?" 

Dindu opens his mouth, but closes it. _God fucking damn it Imma have to ask ain't I _He thinks to himself. "Grrrrr." He growls deeply and Juuzou chuckles at him. 

They both hear the shift in weight, there eyes snapping to the door, but knowing who it was before it swung open an reveals a black haired boy with a blue hoodie and a handful of groceries. "Kaaaaaneki~" The albino sings, making the boy jump in surprise and nearly spill the groceries. "Did ya get me anything sweet?" 

"I didn't even know you were here...." Kaneki says, rifling through the grocery filled paperbags. He grows a smirk on his face, throwing a object at the albino boy and the albino catches it. 

"A chocolate bar? Yay~!" The boy sings and ripps off the wrapper, shoving the treat in his mouth. "Thanks Kaneki~" 

Dindu watches the boy gulp down the chocolate, curious about what it tastes like. "I got you one too." The grey eyed boy says, sitting next to his brother and handing Dindu a milk chocolate chocolate bar. The boy timidly unwrapped the chocolate, holding in his hand, inspecting the texture and color and design with his eyes. He sniffs it, not expecting the smell to be sweet. He tentatively takes a small bite of the treat, letting it melt on his tongue. 

"Amazing..." the boy says, standing on one leg, making the two others stare up at him. "I have to tell someone about this!" He screams and crawls to the door. 

Kaneki and Juuzou stare at eachother for a second. "I-I guess we're going outside." 

"Yep~!" The albino says, subconsciously picking at where the stitches on his arm used

To be. His eyes widen "oh,hang on a second! I need to re-stitch!" He say, kart wheeling off the couch and skipping happily to the bathroom medicine cabinet. 

"Eh, Juuzou..." 

"Ken!" The boy screams from the bathroom. "Where's my thread! Did you hide it again!?" 

"Eh, not exactly." Ken says, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "I kinda used all of it." 

"You're body stitching now?" 

"He stitched me Sherlock." Dindu says, now shirtless and sitting by the door. "I told you I got in a fight, didn't I?" 

"You didn't say you got stabbed!" The boy screeches, running from the bathroom and sliding next to the boy, examining the wounds. "This looks really bad." 

"It's not too bad, just stings a little. Just make sure yo! Oouch! Don't touch it you cunt!" The boy hisses and slaps the albinos hand away. The white haired boy giggles, and traces the stitches, gently this time. 

"You didn't even put a design in it Kaneki..." the boy notes and makes his brother groan. He let's out a loud sigh and retracts his hand from the stitches. "I guess I'll forgive you this time Ken." 

"Can we go now?"


	10. Zeus

"This is the greek symbol for Zeus." The man explains, examining the pictures brought in by Garuda team to the CIA ran shop. The Americans tend to have always have a operative near by, no matter where they find themselves in the world. This man's name is Roland, or so he says. 'Roland' just happens to be a expert in various global cults, the Immortals being one of them.

While Locke seems to have found it vital to contact a expert personally, John feels like a google search would've been just as efficient, if not more so. 

The man had spread out various papers with various photographs, one of them being a photo of that strange jewelry John discovered a week back with Arima

"The necklace is from London. The British museum report it stolen in twenty ten. I had assumed the Jewelry would've been fenced but hey, cults love artifacts."

"London?" Katie says, perking up like a small puppy. Everything else that the man said didn't matter at this point. She had to tease Pearl, and she had to tease her _now_! 

If John was ever asked what Katie's job would be should she ever leave Garuda team, he would put dialect coach at the very bottom of the list. In the absolute worst English accent he had ever heard, Katie's stares up at the english woman beside her and asks, "Gonna pop in to see lil Jamie aye govena?" 

Pearl looks like her country had lost the revolutionary war all over again, and actually shuttered

With some emotion John couldnt distinguish.

"Please stop." 

The commander snaps her fingers, and sends the designated sniper a half scolding, half amused glare "Focus Garuda four." Locke says while trying to repress a smirk. Katie grumbles, but straightens her blond and blue streaked hair before hiving a half hearted salute. Locke accepts her apology before turning back to the CIA's expert. "You're sure it's London, Roland?" The commander asks for clarification, and the old man nods. "That's were you're heading Pearl, you too Marcus." 

Marcus seemed indifferent, but Pearl let a genuinely happy look flash onto her face for just a millisecond before returning to normal. "Yes ma'am!" The two mercs sound off in unison, leaving the other three scratching their heads. 

"Umm, what about us?" Katie asks, putting her hand up like a fucking child trying to ask her teacher a question. "We're not going to London?" 

"No..." Locke says, giving Roland a thumbdrive and walking out of the small shop, the rest of the team following close behind her. "You're needed for something a little more your speed." 

"We're gonna play laser tag?" 

"She means we're doing observations." Aleksei says. Locke shakes her head and Alek raises a eyebrow. "That's not what we're doing boss?" 

"Nope." she says. "We're conducting a raid next week, were training until then." 

"We're conducting it? Or the CCG is?" John asks. He has legit concerns he need addresses,

but her answers may provide some insight on the task at hand. 

"This is us, but it's on their payroll." 

"So it's something big."John says, earning a glance of concern from the rest of the team. The CCG has a certain image its obligated to keep if they intend to keep their funding intact. Dead operatives tend to put a stain on that image. "The CCG doesn't want to get their hands bloody." 

Sure, their job is hazardous, and they've all lost friends participating in missions before. But the moral amongst even hardened soldiers tends to take a hit when you _know _you're being sent on a suicide run.

"Perceptive as always Johnathon...." Locke says with a chuckle, tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "But you know I have no intention on sending my lambs to the slaughter." 

"You got some toys for us?" Aleksei asks and Locke nods her head. They managed to get into their vehicles and while Pearl and Marcus go to the airport to get on a chartered flight to London, the rest of the team head to one of the JSDF's practice rooms in Tokyo. 

The JSDF, GSDF,CCG, and Japan's various SWAT teams use these buildings as live fire practice rooms. They run drills countless times, with countless variables, all to prepare for the mission. Normally Hive run teams like Garuda would be disallowed in using these buildings, but since they're operating under the CCG, the government has allowed it.

The third building out of the six happens to hold a different design from the rest, as it is arguably the most important. This building his for the use of experimental tech, something John remembers overhearing during a conversation with two of his superiors back when he was still with the CCG. He was curious, sure but he held his tounge as the four of them made thier way into the basment of the building, a strange collar sat on a shelf in the center of the room. After a brief silence, Alek was the first to speak. "Is it a necklace?" 

Locke chuckles, and nods, nudging the soldier forward gently. The Russian was visibly confused, apprehensive even. Never the less he made the short walk and slid the metal on, the hard pendent piece sliding in between his collar bones. Locke adjusts the pendant to his on the base of his cervical vertebrae. It clicks into place and Locke presses on it, the pendant hissing as the hair on Aleksei's arm stands up. 

"I present to you..." Locke starts, taking a step back as a crimson bolt of electricity wraps around Alekseis frame, revealing a shining suit of black armor. "The Arata." 

John does his best to expect the unexpected, but even he was taken by surprise by the sudden concept of a hidden kagune infused armor, available at the push of the button. But the armor itself wasn't the only thing that surprised him. "Arata!?!?" 

"That's correct John." Locke confirms as they watch Aleksei move around in the armor, testing it's flexibility and weight. "When your mother was still working with the CCG, she aided in the capture of the ghoul Arata, and thus gifted this technology to us." She represses the button and the armor shrinks back into the pendant. "It's just a prototype, but it should be a good last resort weapon against any high class Ghouls we might stumble across." 

"Last resort?" Katie asks, examining the armor as it shrinks and folds back down into into its small size. "Any reason why we can't use these right off the bat?" 

"It will eat you" 

"Pa-pardon?"

"The armor feeds off the host, granting the host with incredible speed, power and agility.... but you'll pass out and probably die from blood loss if you push too hard." 

"So the first thing you did was put it on me?" Aleksei points and sets the necklace back onto the table, muttering curses in Russian. "Thanks boss." 

"You actually put it on yourself." 

————————————————— 

"You swept his head again Katie!" Locke yells over The intercom, prompting the team to move back to the starting point. "Start over!" 

A common practice for military forces and private contractors is to build a mock layout of a target area and practice going through it, first with blanks then with live fire. In this case the target building is a twenty story office building in Sapporo, the capital of the northern island of Hokkaido. The building is own by _Green_ _Thumb_ _Insurance_, Who's founders are soon do be indicted on human trafficking charges and domestic terrorism. The building is expected to have valuable information that could cement the verdict of the hearing, and possibly shed light on the recent influx of sacrificial murders scattered around the country. Naturally, the indictment, and any mention of it are to be postponed until after the operation, as any warning could jeopardize retrieval of evidence. And the government, including any police department, military unit, and the CCG, would be required to provide a warrant, which would have to be approved by a judge, and with _Green Thumb_ being a multi million dollar company it wouldn't be much of a stretch to suspect they would have some political pull, and thus be given some sort of for-warning of the operation. 

And so the burden landed on Garuda team, a non government entity that officially doesn't exist. 

That of course begs the question in Johns mind on whether or not the Japanese government was aware of Garuda's target when they approved their training at the JSDF's training rooms, but hey if all goes according to plan he might just get a answer to his question.

"Check that corner." John reminds the larger Russian behind him as they move through the mock up, wooden office buildings, built after the blue prints of Green Thumb building. "Two way angle up ahead stack up on each side of the door." The Russian mirrors John on the opposite side of the opening while Katie watches the rear, making sure they don't get flanked. Of course they won't get flanked on account of this being a training exercise, but practice makes perfect. "3...2....1." They move, swinging their weapons around to cover opposite sides of the hallway. 

"Clear! Moving up." 

They run through the operation once, then again, then again. They will learn every step. Every corner. The position of every desk. 

Once they finish moving through the bottom floor, they will learn the middle, and then the top. 

————————————————— 

John doesn't like this operation, it's too risky and too vague for him to feel confident in it's success. For starters, there's no evacuation plan incase things go south. They would have to just run out of the building, and if it came to that the odds are at least one of them would be injured. 

Secondly, there's a chance that a S-rated ghoul known as Silenus is working at that building. He's famous for bleeding his victims and mixing their blood with wine, selling it to underground cannibal cults and ghoul gourmet events. If he's there, there's a good chance the mission will end in failure. 

_Failure _means death of course. For him and his team.

John rubs his eyes, putting down his pencil. He has a habit of writing down his plans of attack before a operation. "I have to be missing something." He says, picking the pencil back up. 

An alarm possibly? Something that will alert local Ghouls of their presence? Maybe everything is encrypted? Maybe they have weapons in storage? Maybe...

His phone vibrates, startling him awake. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. "Eleven forty five...." John groans before checking the text message from Locke. 

_Emergency confere now. Meet at CCG HQ. _

_"_Must be really important. She even misspelled conference." John whispers to himself before making his way out of his house and into his car. CCG headquarters is only a forty minute drive from his apartment, but John still hates the drive, he's not sure why exactly, probably just traffic.

The first thing John noticed was that the building was absolutely buzzing with activity. Usually this late at night its just parameter guards and Janitorial staff members, not CCG and Bureau Investigators. Even members of the press were present, something that was unheard of since a particular incident in the eighty's involving a highjacked cruise ship. Everyone seems to be frantic, hell John would even say panicked. He hears his own name being called, and he looks over his shoulder to see his uncle jogging to catch up to him, the indomitable Shinohara. 

"Uncle Yukinori...." John greets the large man, waiting for him to catch up. "Whats all this about?" He asks as they Jog to the main briefing room. 

"I don't know yet...." 

The briefing room is a large, auditorium like area with a center stage containing a podium and a wall covered in a collection of large televisions. There was no point in attempting t find a chair at this point with the horde of Investigators and press in the room. There's a mass of overlapping chatter, and John can only pick out little bits of information.

"How many casualties?" 

"A corrodinated attack?" 

"GSDF is getting involved?" 

"John!" The man hears his commander call from over his shoulder, seeing the elder woman waving him over to join the rest of Garuda team. "Come here! We need to talk after this." 

John motions for his uncle to follow him, and the larger man nods, trailing close behind. "By the way..." Shinohara speaks up, gathering Johns attention. "I haven't seen Suzuya or investigator Martinez, any idea where they could be?" 

"Kims missing?" John asks, and Shinohara nods. _Suzuya doesn't surprise me, but Kim? I figured she'd be the first one here _John thinks to himself. "I have no idea where they would be." John admits, and Shinohara has a worried look on his face. 

Katie walks up to John, licks her thumb, and rubs the side of his cheek, right under his mouth. John snatches her wrist and gives her a wide eyed stare. "You have dried drool on your face...." she says, twisting her wrist out of her grip. "Let me get that for you." 

Johns eyes snap to his uncle after hearing the man chuckling over his shoulder, trying his best to be un noticed, to no avail. "What?" John snaps, and his uncle silences himself. 

"Hehe it's nothing.." 

John was about to say something, but the sudden appearance of commissioner Washuu made him silent. 

"Attention!" Washuu's voice booms throughout the room, amplified by the speakers as the crowd grows silent, cameras focusing in on the man behind the podium. "At exactly 21:36, the CCG main office in Tokyo received a mass of distress calls originating from Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukushima, Gifu, and Saga. Eight CCG instillations, and one GSDP armory were attacked simultaneously. Aogiri is thought to be the primary organization in the attack, but further investigation is required. At this time, 256 investigators have been reported KIA, as well as 28 GSDF soldiers stationed in Onomichi." 

A audible gasp rings out throughout the Situation room, and John feels a chill over take him. He feels small, almost helpless. This is exactly the image the CCG hired them to avoid!Washuu pipes up again. 

"The CCG will be working hand in hand with the GSDF and local police forces. In addition, I've requested international aid from the American military, and we are currently waiting for a response. Rest assured that those forces responsible will be identified, and brought to justice. Thank you for your time." Washuu concludes, and is escorted off the stage, ignoring the howling press and the scared investigators crys for information. 

"Garuda team." A voice rings out, and the team turns to see the CCG's white reaper beckoning them to follow him. "Follow me..." 

"I'll see you later uncle." John says, receiving a pat on the back from the larger man. 

The team follows Arima, doing their best to avoid bumping into anyone as they waddle their way through the crowded hallways towards the elevators, clicking the button for the top floor. They arrive in the small conference room and John notices a figure with its head down, laying on the table. 

"Kim..." He says, and the girl looks up at him. She's obviously tired, and her hair is uncommonly frizzy. She looks stressed, and John feels disturbed by her physical appearance, he's never seen her like this before. "You alright?" 

"Im fine...." She says, rubbing her red eyes. "No.... no im not." John takes a seat next to her and wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him and she burrows her face in his chest. "Dindu's missing. And with everything that's happening I- I just feel like.." 

Shit, she needs comfort. Comforting people isn't exactly his forte, but he gives it a shot anyways."Im sure he's fine." John says, using his hand to stroke her hair, matting it down flat. Of course he doesn't really know if the boy is alright or not, he could very well be in a Ghouls stomach as they speak, but he isn't going to tell her that. "I'm sure he's out somewhere, singing songs to birds or something." 

She smiles, and thats all he could hope for right now. "He hates me, I know he does...." she says, letting a tearless sob wrack her body. "And It's my fault!!!" John would ask what she means, but Washuu presses the door open, escorted by two guards, members of the Arima squad John remembers. Washuu takes a seat at the head of the table, visibly stressed from the events of the day. 

"Alright, here's the truth..." the man says, taking a deep breath. "The truth is we have no Idea if Aogiri tree is involved, and there's a huge potential that the GSDF was compromised..... the attack happened internally, meaning they would had to have had clearance. GSDF was attacked with thier own equipment and several tanks and helicopter gunships are reported missing from the base." Washuu says, and John rubs his eyes, all this information is giving him a headache. "Naturally we have no intention of letting the public know there's Ghouls riding around with military equipment... but we can't exactly just write it off as a accounting error." Locke clears her throat, making the commissioner look over at her, granting his full attention. 

"What exactly do you need us for?" She asks, taking on a business attitude. 

"Alright Locke calm down...." Washuu says, and John manages to swallow a bubble of anger at the mans disrespect for his superior. " 256 investigators were killed, but 134 more are missing..." Washuu says, and Kims eyes widen. 

"What!?" She gasps, apparently hearing the news for the first time. "We're missing over a hundred people and your not gonna fucking say anything about it!?" 

"Investiga.." 

"You're just gonna sweep it under the rug!" 

"Martinez..." 

"Do the lives of your men really mean so little to you? You'd rather keep your secret then do everything in your power to help our people!" 

"That's enough!" Washuu yells, smashing his hand against the table and effectively silencing Kim. "You keep running your mouth and you'll find yourself out of a Job!" Kim, holds back her anger, scooting out of her chair and running out of the room. John almost follows her but Locke motions him to stay. 

Washuu takes a breath, allowing his anger to descend back into a manageable level. "She's been on edge since her partner was put in the hospital a few days ago." He says, slicking his hair back. "I apologize." 

"So.." Locke says, impatiently tapping her fingers on the table. "Our objective... what is it?" 

"Huh? Right..... your objective, Garuda team, is to track down the locations of any POW's and report back to me." 

"That's all?" 

"For now." 

"You couldn't have just sent a fax?"


	11. Answers

Kim had been spending the last couple of days on one single task, tracking down Dindu. If it was anyone else she couldn't care less, but losing track of Dindu is akin to losing a doomsday weapon. So imagine her surprise when she returns home to see the Afrikan boy and Juuzou Suzuya sitting together on her couch, watching her TV. 

"Hiya Kim~" The albino greets, waving his stitched hand in the air while eating popcorn with the other.... her popcorn. "Is this the same popcorn you use in the theater? It sure tastes like it." 

Kim processes what she's seeing, not only are there butter stains on her leather couch and the boy she's been looking for the last few days. But he's also sitting dangerously close to Juuzou, something she _really_ didn't want to happen. 

Juuzou stares back at Kim, turning to Dindu, then turning back to Kim. "Oh, are you upset because I've been showing your cousin around?" The boy asks, his red eyes wide with false innocence. 

"No Im not mad." 

She is.

"Whooo thats a relief~" The albino says playfully jabbing Dindu in the ribs, making the boy glance over at him. "See? I told you there was nothing to worry about." 

Dindu rolls his eyes, staring at Kim with a certain aggression that makes her anxious. "I'm back cousin." the Afrikan says, not taking his eyes off her. "Anything you wanna say?" 

_"Where have you been?" _Kim says in summarian and Juuzou looks surprised despite the fact he's heard her speak this unknown language before. 

"What language is that?" The boy asks, licking the butter off his fingers. "Is it Spanish?" 

"It's swahelii..." Kim states flately and Juuzou nods his head in acknowledgment despite the fact that she knows he has no idea what that is. "Why don't you go on home Juuzou....." She States, locking eyes with her cousin. "I need to talk to him in private." 

"Oh.... but we were watching Star wars." 

"Now Juuzou." 

The boy kicks his feet, nearly throwing a tantrum before getting up and hustling out of the door, slamming it behind him. Dindu takes a deep breath and scowls as Kim. "You didn't have to kick him out... he dindu nuffin." 

"Is that how you got the fucking name! Because you can't pronounce 'didn't do nothing'." 

"Oh there you go again! Asking questions and expecting answers! Ironic ain't it?" He growls and Kim swallows her rage, knowing he's right in a way. He doesn't remember her, to him she's just a stranger who happens to speak Summarian, there's no other connection. 

"You're right...." 

"I-I am?" 

"Absolutely..." she says, taking a seat next to him. "I've been unfair to you... and I'm sorry about that." 

"Just make it right." The boy says, crossing his arms. "I've just wanna know what I am." He pouts, oblivious to how difficult a question that may be to answer. 

"You're a Jirala..." she says, noting that it's been a incalculable time since she's said that word, it feels alien to her now. The boy perks up and she know she has his full attention. "An ancient, tribal species from a planet called Doisac..... its gone now." 

"Oh..." the boy says and a certain sadness is bestowed upon him at news that his planet of origin was no more. "I've always thought I was some sort of mutant human." 

"Actually The humans would be the mutants." She explains. "Humans come from us. Not the other way around." 

"If they evolved from us, then why are they so.... different from us? They can't see in the dark, they can't blend in. Most of them don't have armor." The boy says and Kim chuckles as The boys mind races, trying to compute the evolutionary time line of humanity. "Well I guess they could have experienced Genetic drift, and if im from a completely different planet that opens the possibly of allopatric speciation. But that just adds the question regarding humanity's origin point in the stars....this is irrelevant." 

_"Yes it is." _

_"So, The Jirala... tell me about them." _

_"Well.." _She starts, trying to jog her memory by subconsciously drumming on her thigh. "_Are you asking about Culture or Biology?" _

_"Lets go with cultural." _

_"Hmmm, to be honest I never spent much time with the Jirala..." _

_"You're not a Jirala?" _

_"Im a sanghella.." _She says, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly. Dindu notes that this is obviously a touchy subject for her. "_Were Not the same thing." _

_"Alright...." _

_"From what I remember, Jirala culture was based on nature and chaos. Not chaos in a anarchist sense. More like a take things as they come sort of way. They respected nature and only took what was needed, living in small, tribe like communities. They used pretty primitive tool, axes, arrows, that sort of thing. Honestly, they didn't have alot of wars breakout, within the Jirala race atleast." _

_"What do you mean by within the Jirala? There were other races on Doisac?" _

_"Not on Doisac persay...." _

_"You're saying we had interglacial conflicts?" _

_"Heheh." _Kim chuckles, making the boy do a double take. Why is she laughing? He wonders. "_It's just a little weird that you of all people don't know." _

_"Why is that weird?" _

_Shit! I've said too much! _She curses herself mentally, trying to think of something to change the subject to. "_Do you have a wolf by chance?" _

The boys eyes widen. _How could she possibly know about him!? _He asks himself while nodding his head. "_How did you..." _

_"I remember him." She says, raising her hand to silence the boy. "You wanna know about him right?" _

_"Right..." _

_"Well.." she says, cracking her knuckles. "There was this ancient Jirala tribe, that settled on the land of a god named Lydus. Now Lydus was a massive wolf, and he saw the Jirala as invaders, so a massive war broke out between wolf and Jirala, until one day a Jirala child found a wolf pup and instead of killing it, which was expected, the child nurtured the pup, and brought it back to Lydus. Well, the Wolf god was so moved by the childs mercy that he allowed a small tribe of Jirala to live on his land. This founded a deep bond between wolf and Jirala, one that established the existence of a powerful tribe called the Lydus tribe. This is the tribe you were born into Dindu, son of the chieftain." _

_"I was royalty?" _The boy says, he can't help but feel a small smirk spread on his face. "_That's a far cry from being born in a cave." _

_"Lydus was the Guardian of the tribe, and acted as a companion to the chieftain.... and you, obviously, now that you're technically the chieftain." _

_"Im the chieftain?" _The boy asks, and Kim nods her head._ "I'm the leader of the Lydus tribe." _

_"Well.." _Kim inerupts the boys thoughts, trying to decide how to approach this. "_You don't really have a tribe to lead anymore." _

_"Huh that's right..." _the boy says, having trouble processing his emotions. He has no memory of the Lydus tribe, so why does he feel like he lost something? "_Can you tell me my name?" _

_"Doesn't matter." _Kim states and the boy gives her a betrayed, wide eyed stare. "_You're Dindu now, you don't need to be anyone else." _

The boy nods, but still fills un satisfied. It's obvious that Kim is holding back information, he just doesn't know why. 

But she does.... 

"_I'll tell you what..."_She speaks up, gaining the boys attention again. "_You're going to do a bit of work for me, and in exchange I'll tell you more stories about who you were. Deal?" _

_"Alright..." _

_"Great, Cmon..." _She says standing from the couch. "I need to show you something." 

"Wha- I don't have my crutches!" 

"What happened to em?" 

"They broke...." 

".....how?" 

"I got in a fight." He chuckles, pulling up his shirt to show The freshly stitched gash on his chest. The stitches were decorated with a little flower. "Rei's brother stitched me up, but I'm not sure why it's not healing.... or why it hurt to begin with." 

"You're still eating the berries?" 

"Huh? Yeah. You asked me to have two ever....... I see the reason now." 

"Problem solved."

—————————————————

If the CCG is going to keep her in the dark and bring in outside help, then she'll do the same thing. But first things first, she needs to know what they know. Thats why Kim brought Dindu just outside the CCG's main building in Tokyo. 

"There's a door on the rooftop that lets you overlook the entire city." Kim explains as Dindu scans over the building with his eyes, in awe at the pure size of it. "Tomorrow night, Im going to leave the door open for you. You're going to use your combat skin to fly up their and infiltrate the building." 

"Im looking for a server room?" The boy asks, and the girl nods. "What exactly is that?" 

"Your A.I will know.... trust me." 

"Speaking of A.I. Don't you have one too? Why do I have to do it?" 

"I don't use it anymore... I like to live as a human." 

"..... why the fuck?" 

"Because That's my choice! Are you gonna listen or not?!" 

"Sorry sorry! Continue." 

The girl takes a deep breath and rubs her eyes. "You're going to wait till its dark, find the server room, hack the data and then come back home. Don't get seen! And if you are seen... DONT KILL ANYONE!" 

"Right.... I'll go in sneaky beaky."


	12. Infiltration

Electromagnetic interference can have devastating effects on all things electrical, from street lights to security cameras to walkie talkies. But when Dindu concentrates, he make make specific things happen. For example he can suck the information directly out of computer hard drives, letting his A.I. Alma decipher it. They practiced over and over again using Kim's laptop, sucking the information out of it before imprinted a heavily compounded record onto a USB device, he's confident the plan will be a success. 

But Kim has a overwhelming sense of anxiety.... not that the plan will fail per say but the boy might destroy the building if he gets caught. She runs scenarios over and over again in her head as she walks up the stairs, making her way to the roof. 

She pushes the door open, and sees a familiar figure sitting over the railing. "Hey Juuzou..." she greets the boy, making her way towards the small albino. "What are you doing up here?" She says leaning on the barrier next to him, watching the light pollution from the city hide the stars in the night sky above them.

"Throwing paper airplanes..." says with a bored tone while letting another plane glide gently fro his fingertips. "I didn't wanna finish my paperwork and figured I shouldn't waste the paper. You want one?" He offers the dark skinned investigator, waving a stack of important paper work in his hands. She declines and the boy pouts. "Suit yourself." 

_I need to get him out of here _Kim tells herself, establishing a plan of attack. Juuzou can be quite stubborn at times, and down right intolerable. But... she thinks she knows him well enough to persuade the boy, and bend him to her will. And the best way to do that is through his stomach. 

"You wanna go get ice cream?" 

The boys eyes widen, and his bored demeanor instantly changes back into the hyper, happy boy she knows and loves. "Huh! Really Kim! Ya mean it?" The boy squeals, rocking back and forth between a four foot hop and a three hundred foot plunge to certain death. 

The girl wraps her arms around the boys torso and pulls him off the ledge, making the boy giggle. "S-sure Juuzou, just be careful on the ledge...." she says, giving the boy a little twirl before setting him on his feet. "Cmon, I'll take you to that place across from the theater you like so much." And like that they're gone, Kim making sure to prop the door open using a little wedge. Juuzou didn't even notice her do it. 

_You think it's a good time to move in now? _

** _Maybe let them get out of the building first. _ **

Dindu watches from the top of a building across the skyline, munching on a ham and veggie sandwich Kim gifted to him earlier. He great fully accept the food and made his way here, on

top of some international marketing firm. He questions how

long it should take to get out of the building. 

** _About five minutes if they hurry. _ **

_Sounds about right. _

In the meantime, the boy fully intend to enjoy his sandwich. The boy happily munches away, kicking his feet off the side of the building, enjoying having his prosthetic back for now. In addition to the leg, he has his skin tight, ultra high tech Biometalic body suit. It should help him silently walk through the building without being detrimental, thanks to its light weight, super flexible material. And Finally, the mask. It's just a Ninja mask Daigo wore last Halloween that Kim found in her closet, the fact that the boy doesn't know what Halloween is was irrelevant at the time, but he plans to ask some day. 

**_I think its time. _**Alma says. The boy gobbles up his sandwich before behind pulling into a distorted cloud, emerging as his combat form. **_Don't fuck it up. _**

_Not exactly the pep talk I was hoping for, but thanks. _

Straight up into the night sky he goes, disappearing into the darkness. The plan is simple, get in, find the server room, hack the data, get out. Not exactly the full on assault mission he's used to, but it should at least be a little fun. 

The monster flys above the building before switching back into his normal, human form, screaming "Dive bomb!" As he descends towards the building at a high speed. The wind ripped through his dark black hair, and he remained himself that he needs to get a haircut soon. He decreases his speed, a static charge catching the air around him and acting as a parachute as he gently lands on the roof of the massive building, quickly slipping on his mask. Kim and him had had a discussion about the mask, debating whether wearing it would be effective or not. It covers most of his face, including his mouth and nose, but leaves his distinct bright blue eyes visible. Usually, the eyes alone are not enough of a factor to identify someone, especially just off of visuals, however his eyes are different then a humans. If a human has blue eyes it's caused by having two recessive alleles, a mutant genetic of brown eyes. Its not actually a pigment, it's actually the lack of a pigment, the blue color is simply a reflection of the water molecules in the air, it's the same reason why the sky is blue. But for Dindu, a Jirala, his blue eyes are different, a pigment, they tend to glow if his mind isn't under some sort of influence. No one would mistake that radiant cyan glow for just some foreign spy, but it can't be helped. 

_I am but a sneaky snake. _The boy thinks to himself as he silently makes his way to the slightly propped door, throwing the wedge onto the roof as he silently latches the door behind him. He doesn't waste time descending the stairs, instead jumping over a majority of steps and silently landing on the last two, right before the doorway. Security camera on the left, Kim said it won't see him.... not his body anyways, just a cloud of dizzying distortion. If he's fast enough it may not even see that. 

The lights flickered at his rapid movement, a quick discharge of magnetic energy propelling him from the door way to the hallway across from him. There's one guard on this floor, and he doesn't notice. However there's several investigators who happened to be in the area, the top floor being reserved for the higher ranks. The boy will somehow have to sneak his way into the third floor. 

"Hey Yuno, what do you call it when a second class investigator becomes a first class investigator?" 

"I don't know? What?" 

"A promotion!" 

Dindu stops in his tracks and slams himself again the wall, shutting his eyes tightly as he fights off a wave of hysterical laughter. Bad jokes were the boys kryptonite. _Oh no! This is bad! This is very bad! _The boy tells himself as he lets out a little squeak, trying his best to pull himself together. 

"Huh, did you hear something?" A girl, the one named Yuno asked the master comedian. The boy hears footsteps approaching, and slips into a unused conference room, hiding in the darkest corner he could find. They round the corner and walk through the hallway he just left. Yuno stares into the conference room, unsure if she sees anything or not. 

"Huh... guess it was nothing." She says, before resparking her conversation with the master comedian. Dindu, moves back into the light quick enough to watch them turn the corner. 

He'll give them a moment to move a resonable distance away before he sprints towards the staircase before the cameras movement cycle scans over his area. 

** _Movement Detected! _ **

The boy stop, unsure of what to do. So he stops and a wave of distortion explodes from his body, disabling all the electronics in the top half of the building. Of course the CCG had a countermeasure to that, as small glowing green lights radiated the building. 

"Shinohara? You're phone working?" A youngish sounding voice asks, the figures halt at the bottom of the stairs, giving Dindu time to make a plan. He jumps, and anchors himself into place, using his arms on one side of the wall and his legs on the other, letting him hang in the darkness over the stairwell. 

"Koori? Do you know where the power breaker is?" 

"It's on the roof, should I request a electricion or something?" 

"No, I'll do it myself." 

"Well... I'll come with you, just incase." 

He hears the clinking of the stairs as the two men ascend them. One of them is short, and has a bowl cut style hair. The other is tall and strong looking, his hair looks more like a missing puzzle piece then anything else. Dindu hopes they don't look up to see him hanging above them like a spider. Thankfully they don't. 

"Phew, that was close." The boy whispers to himself before dropping from his position, landing at the bottom of the dark staircase. "Why the fuck are the stairs so far from eachother!" 

He dashes through the darkness, moving from one set of cover to the other, using the darkness to slip past investigators and guards. he almost got through undetected.....almost. 

"Oi!" The guard yells when he spots Dindu. Imagine opening a door and seeing a fucking ninja crouching down next to you, cyan eyes wide im surprise. The boy shoots forward, head butting the man in the chest while pulling on the back of his calves, driving forward with a blast double. He moves up, wrapping his arm around the mans arm and neck in a arm triangle choke, restricting the blood flow to his brain. 

Here's the thing about knockouts, whether from a choke or a concussion. The victim is never out for long, not more then a minute unless they took serious brain trauma. But since this probably isn't the case, the boy asks himself what he should do with this guard. He won't kill him, it would break his agreement with Kim. But it's not like he can just let him tattle. 

_I'll have to bring him with me. _

The boy un holsters the mans gun and cocks it back, making sure it's loaded and ready to fire. The guard starts to re awaken in a daze, and Dindu presses the barrel to his head. 

"Don't talk... don't even breath." The boy threatens, wrapping his arm around the mans throat and holding the weapon to his head. He just needs to go down one floor. "Walk lightly." 

It's pretty clear to the boy that his hostage hated his job, and was more then willing to escort him to the server room. Took him right to it. 

"Well thanks for the help Akira." The boy says to the man, barely even keeping a grip on the mans collar. "Good luck studying for that bio test. Just make sure you don't over stress about it." 

"I know. It's just if I fail this test I fail the class." 

"Why not go out and experience the wonders of nature? It'll help you remember." 

"Hmmmm... there's a park I've always wanted to go to." The man says, while the boy puts his hand on one of the server boxes, letting Alma move through the magnetic field and infect the system. Of course she had to turn the power back on first, but they're hidden away in a place they can't be seen.

** _Information! So much! So fast! You wouldn't believe the wealth of knowledge in here. _ **

_Yeah yeah lady I don't care. Hurry up please. _

** _Oh right, we're supposed to be quick. _ **

** _————————————————_ **

"I don't know what to get!" The albino boy screams excitedly, running from one side of the ice cream display bar to the other. "So many flavors so little time!" 

"Juuzou!" Kim groans, sitting on a table and watching the boy. Everytime he has to make his own decisions he takes way too long for her liking. "Juuzou just pick something for the love of god!" 

Does he want vanilla? Or maybe he wants strawberry? But then there's always chocolate. But he just had chocolate.... maybe he should get vanilla? But what if he gets vanilla and realizes he wants strawberry? But then what if He gets strawberry, and realizes he wants rocky road? 

"Juuzou!" 

"Fine Ms. Hurrypants!" Juuzou groans and flips a mental coin. "Vanilla with red sprinkles please!" 

————————————————— 

** _I have good news! But also bad news.... _ **

_Whats the good news? _

** _I'm almost done gathering the data! _ **

_And the bad news? _

** _I hit a silent alarm.... contacts inbound. _ **

_Shit Alma just fucking say that! _

The boy, watches the door, waiting for some armed soldier to kick it off the hinges and storm the room, something he cant allow until the down load is finished. "Akria, got anything non lethal on you?" 

"I have a taser and some pepper spray.... why?" 

"Give me." The boy say, reaching his hand out. The older man shrugs, handing the boy the bottle of peperspray and the tazer. "Sorry about this..." 

"Sorry about what?" The man asks before a solid spray of hot liquid is launched into his eyes, making him scream in pain and surprise. "You pepper sprayed me you dick!" 

_This will do nicely. _

_"_Stay down Akira." The boy says, pulling the man to the ground before sprinting to the door. 

** _Don't go too far! I need to stay in range. _ **

"Right..." the boy says, opening the door slightly to look outside. Sounds like a majority of movement is coming from below them, but their should be some above him as well. He waits for his adversaries to appear. And their they are, just seconds later, approaching from the left, meaning they came from beneath. "They move fast..." He says before opening the door and throwing the can of peperspray off the wall. 

_I hope this works! _

He draws his pistol and takes aim, firing a round at the falling canister. He aimed carefully! But he missed, firing just a bit too late. The bullet misses the canister and slams into a mans collar bone, snapping it before tumbling through and out of the mans flesh, effectively dropping the man.

"Shit!" The boy screams before adjusting his aim and firing at the can again, hitting it this time. The can ruptures and creates a toxic cloud of Pepper spray, effectively making the guards blind. "Enjoy that spicy sauce boys!" 

** _Got it! Lets go! _ **

The boy waits for the blind gunfire to stop before firing a couple shots in the air, making the guards take cover out of instinct before bolting out of the room and sprinting up the stairs. 

_Turn the fucking lights off! _

** _Got it.... you don't need to curse. _ **

The lights go off and the halls turn green with the glowing lines of paint. The boy sprints through the hallway, making his way up the stairs through the roof. 

_Almost there... almost there _

**Wack! **

A massive leg slams into the boys stomach as he runs onto the roof. He looks up in time to duck under a punch, pushing his attacker away. 

"Now Koori!" The large man says, and Dindu barely dodges a attack from the rear, getting the gun knocked out of his hand. The smaller man trys to kick Dindu in the head but has his leg swept out from under him before he gets the chance. 

The boy bounces around the two men, deciding what to do. On one had, he got what he came for. He could hop off the building and glide to safety and no one would be able to catch him. On the other hand, he loves to fight, and two on one seems almost fair for them. 

The smaller man, about Dindus height, charges forward, his right elbow cocking up slightly. It's a tell most wouldn't see, but Dindu did. 

The man plants his foot and launches a right over hand, with Dindu easily ducking under it and delivering a hard knee to the mans solar plexus before wrapping his arms around his hips, tossing him in the air! 

"Koori!" The larger man yells and diverts his course, acting as a barrier between Dindu and the bowl cut man. "You alright Ui?" 

"Ah.. Im fine, focus on him!" 

"Focus." Dindu mimicks, waiting for the man to make a move. He puts one arm down and the other by his chin, a mixture of styles that's hard to pinpoint. The other man, Shinohara, seems to have a Karate focus, but not strictly, and Dindu see some Judo elements in his movements. 

** _Be smart with this one_ **

"Duh." The boy says, shuffling foward. The man is much taller, about 5 inches, and maybe 210 pounds if Dindu had to guess. There arms look to be about the same length, so his biggest advantage is his height. 

_I see it... _

Dindu blitzes forward, narrowly slipping the man's defensive jab and countering with a inside leg kick, using his metallic shin to blast the man's thigh. 

Shinohara takes it well, a senior investigator with excellent composure, there's no way he'd allow a little pain to deter him. He swings his fist at Dindu's head, expecting the block. However Dindu slipped the punch, countering with a devastating left hand to the midsection, a shot that would incapacitate a lesser man. 

But Shinohara is indomitable... 

The larger investigator raises both his fists above his head and smashes them into the intruder's back, sending Dindu to the ground on his hands and knees. 

** _There it is.... _ **

The man attempts to jump onto the boy, but is a fraction of a second too slow. With the man slumped over infront of him, Dindu turns his body and swings his metal heel into the mans head, smashing into his temple with a sickening crack. It doesn't matter how much heart you have, or how determined you are. You take a shot like that, you're going to dreamland, just like Shinohara was now.

The door flys open as a few of the investigators Dindu saw earlier storm the roof, guns ready. "Down! On your knees now!" One of the men scream, and Ui takes the distraction as a chance to charge at the boy in the ninja mask. 

Dindu slips the mans fist and brings his elbow straight up into the mans chin, staggering him back."Too slow!" The boy mocks the investigator, grabbing his arm and throwing him over his shoulder at the armed breaching team. "Goodbye." He says before sprinting and diving off the building into a cloud of distortion, flying off into the night sky. 

_I think that went well. _

** _You shot a guy._ **


	13. You owe me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dindu gets a few of the answers he’s looking for.

"I heard you fought my boss..." Kim says after getting home from work the following night. The boy has been able to relax after getting his violent tendencies out of his system. That raid was like therapy for him. "And you shot my friend, Honda." 

"No one died! I even gave a guard advice on how to study for his Biology test next week." 

The girl raises he eyebrows at the boy, still in his metallic mesh suit and sprawled out on the couch, high of course. "Do you know anything about biology?" 

"I happened to work alongside scientists, thank you very much." 

"Hmmph..." the girl grunts and plugs the newly coded usb into her laptop, downloading all of the CCG's private information. It takes a few minutes, but it works. "Bingo!" She says, looking through the information. She now has data on every case the CCG has investigated within Japanese borders.... meaning their international affairs are still a mystery to her. Washu probably has a data mine elsewhere, somewhere off the record. This will have to do for now. 

"Let's discuss my pay." The boy says, not bothering to open his eyes. "You owe me information." 

"I do..." 

"And you'll answer anything I ask?" 

"No." 

"What?!" The boy says, suddenly siting up and glaring with rage at the girl sitting at the dinner table next to the couch. "Why the fuck not?!" 

"Alright, I need you to understand something...." the girl says, getting off the laptop and kneeling in front of the boy, taking him by the hands. The boy cocks his head in confusion, but allows the contact. They stare each other in the eyes her sad green ones burning into his curious cyan ones. "You.... you weren't a good person......" She says, struggling to find the proper wording. "I mean you had your reasons. But what you did back then... I can't let that happen again." 

"What was it? What did I do that scares you so badly?" 

Would he even remember if she told him? She asks herself that question while staring into the boys eyes. If he's here, he managed to retrace his steps, but he's clueless about his past. 

"You're a Primordial..." she says, making the boy roll his eyes, she realizes he doesn't know what that means. "It means you're a natural born Seraph.... I’m a seraph." 

"Dumb it down for me." 

"Seraphs were weapons of last resort created by the precursors... the first race of intelligent beings in the multiverse, gods essentially." 

"Weapons against what?" 

"Weapons against the Primordials... giant monsters really. You don't happen to know anything about those do you?" 

"You mean the Leviathan form?" The boy asks and she nods, unsure how to feel about the boy having such massive capabilities. "I fought this golden bitch with a sword once... cant remember her name, but her blood turned people into Giants." 

"That sounds familiar..."The girl says out loud. She was a guardian... what was her name again? Oh thats right. "Deg-Jen? Does that sound right?" 

The boy shrugs. "I just called her golden bitch." The boy says with a giggle. "You knew her?" 

"Yeah...." the girl says, thinking back. She was her friend, and for a time, her partner. Not sexually, even though that happened a few time too. They fought along side each other in the early mending of the 20 realms. "How is she?" 

"Hmm? Oh she dead." The boy says, not noticing as the girls face contorts with grief. "She was hunting me! She even killed a few of my friends. I had to consume her...... whats wrong?" 

Kim pushes the tears away, not wanting to cry infront of the boy. "Nothing....anyways seraphs were made by taking DNA from primodials and augmenting it in humanoids. But you didn't have artificial modifications." 

"Meaning im a organic being?" 

"Yes.... Kinda. You're not exactly found in nature. Your mother was a world eater and your father was a guardian." 

"Back that ass up Kim. Guardian and world eater?" 

"I’m a guardian.I’m stationed on a planet. I protect the planet and its inhabitants. A world eater destroys infected planets." 

"Infected with what?" 

"Anything the precursors deemed too dangerous to be kept alive." She says without thinking. There's something about that answer that makes Dindu....uncomfortable, and he yanks his hands out of her grip. "Not to say they were without reason!" 

The boys breathing has increased exponentially, and Kim notices something is .... off. _An anxiety attack? _Kim thinks to herself. Does he even have anxiety? Thats news to her. The boy suddenly gets up and runs to the door, swinging it open before sprinting outside. "Dindu!" She screams and runs out after him. 

"_Get away from me!" _The boy screams, struggling to walk through the fear. "_Why did you follow me here! What do you want?" _

_"Just calm down Dindu..." _

_"I don't know what you're talking about! Fuck off!" _

_He's not talking to me. _Kim realizes, giving the boy a bit of space. A flashback maybe? Thats the only thing that makes sense, simce the boy doesn't even seem to notice Kim's presence. "_Dindu..." _

"_Why can't I know, Kim?" _The boy asks, dropping to his knees and catching his breath. "_He won't tell me anything..." _

_Don't pull him back into the delusion _Kim tells herself and decides not to ask who "he" is, instead just kneeling next to the boy and pulling him into her chest. He doesn't react to the hug, doesn't even pull away. 

"Why did I do it Kim?" The boys sobbs, resting his face against her shoulder. "You said I had a reason.... what was it?" 

"You were kidnapped." The girl explains, running her fingers through the boys hair. "And your people were sent into battle... so you rebelled." 

"I remember it sometimes....well not really. I see things sometimes. And there's this boy who looks like me... but I think it is me. I think he's me..." 

"When's the last time you got a haircut?" The girl asks, her fingers in his hair. She needs to distract him. "I've never seen your hair this long." 

"Ehh I've never gotten it cut... why?" 

"Well... It's Jiralhanae tradition to cut your hair short during times of

Conflict...." 

"Is this a time of conflict?" 

"Depends on what the CCG has hidden in that archive of there's." The girl says. "Tell you what... you'll work with me, okay?" 

"You mean I'll do the heavy lifting while you play double agent?" The boy says in a snarky tone. 

"Pretty much." 

————————————————— 

"Why are we so much stronger then people?" The boy asks, now dressed in black slacks a a red t-shirt. He watches as a lamp flickers nearby, the medication wearing off. "I mean, only one guy was able to beat me. And he was a monster of a man." 

"The Jiralhanae were called _Brutes _back in the day because of their gorilla like strength." Kim explains while coming through the CCG's private information. "You're race is alot stronger then people, I'm surprised you actually found someone that could beat you." 

"Am I stronger then a Sanghelli?" 

"Most of them... don't get any ideas." 

"Hey, you said I fought your boss. Who was that?" 

"Shinohara.... he's a big guy. Easy going." 

"The nigga with a puzzle piece on his head?" 

"I guess.... didn't I tell you to stop saying that word?" 

"I didn't really get to fight him. Some dudes showed up and I had to run......" 

Kim notices the boy trail off and glances over at him as he jumps onto the couch. "You're not fighting my boss again." 

"But I didn't get to fight him the first time!" The boy says, groaning and crossing his arms. "Fucking investigators killing my fun.." 

"You'll get to take on plenty of Ghouls..." she says, and the boy sits up to look at her. "Come here." 

Hidden within the CCG data bank is a list of locations suspected of being ghoul hideouts. However, without any definitive evidence, the CCG was never authorized to investigate. But with the list in her hands, and Dindu as her sword, she'll be able to cut through the list of ghoul bases, one by one. 

"So...... what am I looking at?" The boy asks, leaning over Kim's shoulder. "You're just staring off into space."


	14. Armored Casket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight crime scenes. One pissed off John.

"There are no bodies." Locke says over the phone as John drives towards the crime scene. A small bakery with a underground tunnel system. "CCG's never seen anything like it. Are you close?" 

"I’m stuck in traffic." John grumbles. The target is only thirty miles away and it's taken a hour and a half so far, he still has eight miles to go. "I hate driving in Tokyo." 

It took almost three hours, but Finally John has arrived at the newly destroyed bakery. The CCG had this place on a watch list, but had no idea about the tunnel system built under it. Or... at least that's what they told John. 

"I heard you guys had a break in..." John says after being greeted by his uncle. "What was it, Shinohara?" 

"Just some loon in a mask." The larger man says after shaking John's hand. He always had a firm grip. "Won't happen again." 

"Right.... Tell me what happened here." 

Whatever hit this bakery hit from the outside, forcing it's way through the Ghouls that operate here. Blood and limbs stain the walls and ground, leading to a secret staircase hidden behind a false oven. What ever this was ripped the oven off it's hinges. 

More blood, fingers, a foot, all staining the brick walls and dirt floor of the catacombs. But what really got the CCG's attention was a particular body, badly burned. 

The calf of the right leg is the only thing remaining of the pile of ash, and the calf bleeds into the pile. "Real pretty, ain't it Johnathan?" Locke says, snapping a picture with her Cannon camera. "Even burned a shadow into the wall." 

"Any radiation?" 

"Just trace amounts..... Cmon, lets get coffee." Locke says. John was about to protest, was going to complain about how be just got there, but he figures the getting coffee is just code for 'secret meeting.'

He assumed that.... and was wrong. 

"This is good coffee." Locke says, absent mindly tapping her fingers on the table of the small cafe while John stares at her with a incredulous look in his face. _The audacity!_ "Oh, forgive me Jonathan, I’ve been at that crime scene since five." 

"It's fine." John says, taking a deep inhail. He likes the smell of coffee, reminds him of his mother who basically lived off the stuff. "I guess I needed some coffee too." 

"So John, I bet you're wondering why we were invited to a CCG crime scene." 

"I am." 

"Well..." she says leaning across the table, close enough to whisper to the man. "There's eight more crime scenes just like it...." 

"Eight?" 

"Don't interrupt!" She whisper screams, making John jump a little. She clears her throat before continuing. "All eight crime scenes were reported within the last twelve hours. And all from civilian parties." 

"..... a simultaneous attack?" 

"Better!" She says, a bit of excitement in her voice. "It's one organism." 

"..... how?" 

"I don't know!" Locke admits with a shrug of the shoulders, not at all bothered with the presence of a unknown force. "I haven't seen anything like this since Vietnam." 

"Fuck you're old." 

"Yes I am...." 

They sit there in silence for a minute. John knows she wants to say something, but knows she wants him to ask. He caves. "How do you know its just one organism. And not a strike team?" 

"Im glad you asked Jonathan!" She says, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out some photographs. "U.S Navy picked something zipping around up on radar. It was too hard to follow, but a thermal camera from a Destroyer stationed by Onimichi caught this." 

"This isn't much to go on..." John says, inspecting the photograph. It looks as if it's just a thermal photograph of a comet, but there's definitely something underneath the crown of fire in front of it. 

"It has some sort of....magnetic shield." Locke says, answering johns mental question. "It's also why cameras on the ground wouldn't work." 

"Is this what broke into the CCG a few days ago?" 

"No.... I don't know. You'll have to ask Washuu for that." 

John thinks over the facts. If this is a ghoul, and it's a stretch to say it is, it wouldn't match any known classification. No known ghoul has aerial capabilities, not like this at least. And if his hunch is right, and this thing is connected to the CCG break in, then it had the chance to take down the CCG's HQ and simply decided not to. It's a far cry from Shinohara's description of 'some loon in a mask' but the magnetism seems similar.... John thinks. How should he know? He's not a scientist. 

"A few surviving Ghouls have called it the 'Armored Casket'. I'm not sure if that means anything but it's a name." Locke says, taking another sip of coffee. John realizes he's barley touched his and follows suite. "You know what's strange?"

"The entire thing?" 

"Well, yes... but specifically." 

"What?" 

"It hit eight locations, and found Ghouls at all of them." She says, implications spinning in her mind. "Tell me what that means..." 

John takes a moment to think. Eight locations, hit back to back with all of them being Ghouls hideouts? "That means it has ties to ghouls, the underworld, or...." 

"The CCG." 

————————————————— 

Garuda Team doesn't usually do escort missions, especially for the CCG. So Washuu was more then a little surprised when Locke not only volunteered the team, but also volunteered herself. 

They follow the CCG, prison bus on the freeway, keeping a few car spaces back. Locke enjoys eating her muffin while John focuses on the road. "You better not get ants in my car." John grumbles, as crumbs fall to the floor.

"The ants will get in by themselves." Locke says, and John calls her a smart ass. "You're just jealous because you don't have a delicious muffin to snack on." 

"It has raisins. How good could could it be?" 

"You want a bite?" She asks, and John opens his mouth to say no. Locke takes that as a invitation to stuff a bit of raisin filled muffin in his mouth, nearly suffocating the man. "See, isn't it good?" 

John chews the forced treat. It's alright he admits, but nothing special. "It'll do." 

"While I hope so! Because we're being followed." She says casually. "Red Impala three cars back, two lanes left." 

John catches it in his sights, and notices Locke take out her cellphone, dialing the passenger of the CCG prison bus infront of them. 

John spots a second tail, this time to his right. "Black Hoda, one car down next lane right. You carrying Locke?" 

"Of course!" She said, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a Uzi, extending the butt against her shoulder. John was expecting a pistol at the most. "You didn't bring your weapon?" 

"Behind your seat, grab the wheel." John says and Locke takes the wheel, keeping the car steady. John leans back and grabs his modified M-4, pulling it into his lap before putting his hands on the wheel again, taking control from Locke. "Those robes, black and gold. You think they're immortals?" 

"That or Aogiri Tree." Locke says, dialing a number on her phone again. "Yeah, me again. What's traffic like up ahead? Twenty mile spread? Alright thanks." 

"What was that about?" 

"Traffics clear...." 

"Meaning?" 

"Meaning they're planning to ambush us. Watch for rooftops." 

Needless to say, the next ten minutes were tense, the two of them looking around and keeping a eye on the two cars around them. It's not unusual for Ghouls to tail CCG personel, that's the price of not wearing a mask, but to pursue a CCG prison van? Hasn't happened, not yet atleast. 

Not for another ten minutes. 

"Whoah!" John screams in surprise and slams on his breaks, nearly rear ending the van in front of him. "We stopped! What happened?" 

"On the phone..." Locke says, raising a finger to her lips. John rolls his eyes as she talks to whoever's on the line. "Got it, good luck." 

John checks the car to his right, noticing the Ghouls fixing masks on their faces. 

"Gun." Locke says, pressing the butt of her weapon against her shoulder. "Gun left!" 

"What are the rules here?" 

"If they try to kill us, kill them first."

"They have a opening." John says, undoing his seatbelt. "If it's coming, it's coming now." 

They wait, watching the cars occupants closely, watching their movements. They seem to be focused on the bus, and probably don't even see the two members of Garuda team. They unlatch their doors. 

"Move!" Locke orders, getting out of the car with John following her example. "Hands!" She screams, aiming her weapon at the surprised Ghouls. "Hands!" 

John keeps his weapon up, ready to unload on the Ghouls should he have to. He looks over his shoulder and sees one of the bus guards taking cover behind him. "Friendly on our six." 

The Ghouls, despite obviously coming with the intention of freeing the prisoners on the bus, had no idea what to do about the sudden appearance of Garuda team. They panic, and raise their guns. 

Big mistake. 

John often wonders if the people he's killed know that he killed them, or if their in some sort of Limbo stage for the rest of enternity, stuck in that final moment of life. He doesn't know if that's terrifying or comforting. 

But the moment his bullets collided into the robes figures he knew they weren't Ghouls. 

"Human contacts!" John yells, turning around in time to see the A massive Kagune crash into the prison bus, splitting it in half like a can of beans. Humans and Ghouls working together? It's almost inspirational if it wasn't so misguided. 

"Get down!" Locke screams before pulling the man down behind a car, peaking up to fire a few rounds. "What's the point of having people with you!" 

"They want to direct our fire away from the prisoners." John says, activating the quinquee bayonet on the end of his rifle, right under the muzzle. "Im moving up, keep me covered." 

"3...2...1! Move!" Locke screams, peaking over the trapped car and firing a single round into a robed figures head, shattering the mask. John sprints from one car the another, taking a shot a figures foot, shattering the metatarsal of the right foot, finishing it off by sprawling under the car and firing a kill shot into the mans temple.

Naturally, the one ghoul that's among thier little team notices the two Garuda members by now, and Locke barely dodges the Tenticle like kagune of the rikaku type Ghoul. 

John knew it already, but he was still surprised to see it in person. Locke, for whatever reason, has the un natural ability to disappear out of sight. All she did was duck down! How the fuck did she get behind the ghoul five car lanes infront of her? She must have been a nightmare in the thick jungles of Vietnam. 

"Take them out John!" She screams and fires a automatic volley into the ghoul, choosing to take it one on one while John deals with the lackeys. She has a pop up fire style, John notes. This means she fires at her target, evades oncoming fire (in this case it's a Kagune), rolls to cover and then pops up somewhere else. 

Of course Johns no pushover either, firing on the human lackeys before they can even get him in their sights. 

"You alright Locke?" John says, moving cover to cover to flank around the Ghoul and get eyes on his commander. "Locke!" 

"For christs sake John! Look at the bus!" 

"Huh?" John says before spinning around and laying eyes on the destroyed vehicle. Of course, he was just moments late, and a good about of the Ghouls that were on board escaped, but their was one who captured his attention. A flash from the past. "Medusa..." 

The ghoul hears her own name and flashes her purple eyes at the one who got away. "Heheh Hi Johhny!" She giggles, before running off. 

John didn't think, didn't even see anyone else but her. He just started running after her, his rage growing with each step he took. 

He takes a knee, and fires at her legs, nicking her left calf. 

_She's defenseless _he realizes. The CCG would never transport a ghoul without medicating them first. "Get back here!" He screams, barely evading a punch from a chained up ghoul. John ducks under the punch and stabs the baton into the irrelevant Ghouls stomach, cutting through it horizontally, letting the guts spill out. 

"I don't have time for you!" John yells, kicking the ghoul away. But it's too late. She's gone. 

"Fuck!"


	15. Just to say “hi”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim visits Sato in the hospital. He asks for a Xbox.

"Are those flowers for me?" Sato asks, smiling at the purple flowers in a vase. "You sure know how to make a boy blush, Kim." 

"Well I figured I should bring something pretty, since you'll have to look at your ugly mug in the mirror for the rest of your life." Kim jokes. Was that too mean? They've been friends for a while now. She can joke like that, right? Or is it too close to the vest. 

Right now Sato looks like Zuko from avatar, a large scar covering his right eye. She's sure it'll heal, but he's gonna have to pay for sex from now on. 

"Thanks..." Sato shrugs the comment off with a eye roll. He never takes her jokes seriously. He was good like that. "So... I'm on probation huh?" 

"Think of it as a paid vacation." 

Sato exhails loudly and stares out the window, looking at the courtyard across the road "This ain't much of a vacation..." He says bitterly. He'll be confined to this bed for a few weeks. And that's if he's lucky. "But atleast Im getting paid." 

"Getting paid to lay in bed all day." She says and they share a giggle. "All I have to do is get you a Xbox and you'll be living every teenaged boy’s dream." 

It's good to see Sato laugh. Kim knows that he has a habit of falling into depression if he can't keep himself busy with work. Probation isn't much different from prison for the poor man. So Kim made it a priority to make sure Sato is happy, that way when he returns to work he'll be able to get back into the gist of things in no time. 

"Can you actually get me a Xbox?" 

"Im rich so.... probably."kim says with a giggle. "If I do, what games do you like?" 

"Hmmm..." Sato hums in thought, scratching his chin. "I wanna play COD and Battlefield..." 

"So war games?" 

"Yeah... war games." 

"Hehe. I can probably make that happen..." she says. She hates war games, especially those old world war ones. They hit her too close to home, seeing those battles again. She'll never understand how people could just play though the campaigns without thinking of the people who actually lived through the fighting and all the horrors that accompany it. 

Sato isn't sure why her mood has dropped, so he decided to bring up a conversation. "How's work going?" 

She's pulled out of her daze and looks at the man, realizes he doesn't know of the massive blow the CCG took a few days ago, since he was unconscious until last night. 

"It's going fine." She lies, wanting to keep the man in good spirits. "I've had time to focus on my other businesses! The theater is doing well." 

Sato could tell something was off, but chose not to pressure her. "Hah... that's good. I like that theater. The seats lean back." 

"Yeah, We had those in a place up in LA. So I couldn't just not have seats like that." 

"Well I’m glad you didn't decide to bring the popcorn prices with you too..... I’d have to talk to a loan shart everytime I wanted to see a movie." 

They chuckle, but it gets quite. Sato decides to change the subject again. "How's your girlfriend? She's still training Judo?"

_Judo? Definitely not _Kim thinks to herself with a laugh. "She's a Taekwondo practitioner, not a Judoka." Kim says and Sato rolls his eyes before correcting himself and repeating the question. "She's doing okay I think. I haven't had time to talk to her." 

"Oh..." 

_Oh? _Kim repeates mentally. What's he mean by that? "Oh what?" 

"Well I mean.... she's far away.... and she surrounded by elite athletes with lots of testosterone." 

"You think she's gonna cheat?" 

"What!" Sato says, his eyes looking away from her defensively. In truth, he knows he shouldn't have said anything, he knows how painful it is to have someone cheat on you. But he'd be lying if he said it's not on his mind. "I’m Just saying.... lock her down is all." 

"I see.." Kim thinks, suppressing a smile. She loves Ai, she's sure of it. But she doesn't mind if she cheats, if anything she's encouraged it. It sounds strange without context, but she needs to play the part of the proper, jealous girlfriend in front of Sato. "Maybe you're right..." she says, fidgeting a little. "I'll call her."

————————————————— 

She initially told Sato that she'd call Ai just to shut him up. But after leaving the hospital and getting in her truck, she somehow found herself on the phone, dialing her girlfriend. She didn't answer the first time, and Kim decided to call again. 

"Hello?" The voice rang out, and Kim was somehow caught off guard. Everyone sounds different over the phone, but Kim usually doesn't call people. "Kimmy?" 

Kim froze, unsure of what to say. This is the first time she's ever made a phone call for no reason other then to talk. Talk about what? 

"Kim? Are you there? Did you butt dial me again?" 

"N-no...." Kim stutters, a panic alarm rings out in her head. "I just... um I just wanna say hi." 

"You just wanted to say hi?" Ai repeats, and nods before realizing she's on the phone. She makes a affirmation sound with her throat. 

"Oh... well alright, Hi." Ai says with a giggle. 

"Hi.." Kim repeats. She hears clattering in the background, by cant make out anything distinct enough to get a clue on Ai's activity. "Are you busy?" 

"I’m at Dinner." She says, and Kim feels her heart drop in her chest. "I didn't have time to go grocery shopping yesterday, so I decided to go out tonight with the team." 

"You're busy. I'll leave you alone..." Kim says. She's stopped by a sharp cry from the other end of the call. 

"Wait!" Ai nearly screams, making Kim ask what's wrong. "It's nothing.." she explains. "You're off work in a couple days right?" 

"Yeah." 

"And you haven't used any sick days like ever..." 

"Well... I don't get sick." 

"Well... maybe you should?" Ai says, and Kim asks her to explain. "Well... I'd love for you to come spend a few days with me. I miss you.." 

_She... Misses me? _

Ai continues. "And you need to come massage me! Im sore hehe." She says with a giggle. Kim couldn't help but smile. "So... what do you say." 

"Well..." Kim starts, her tasks spinning around in her head. "I need to give Dindu his present, but after that.... I'd love to." 

Kim can almost hear Ai's lips curl into a smile, and a beautiful giggle rings out. "Great!" She exclaims, maybe a bit too loudly. "I'll see you soon!" 

"See you soon." 


	16. Piggyback me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juuzou has trouble beliving Dindu’s claims about Fenrir. Dindu proves his point.

"I'm telling you! He's as big as a Tiger!" 

"No way! You're full of it." Juuzou retorts, earning a snarl from the one legged boy sitting across from him. "If a wolf was as big as a tiger they wouldn't let it on the plane." 

The boys are arguing about the size of Dindu's wolf, Fenrir. Dindu is pretty adamant about the wolf being the size of a Tiger, if not a little bigger. Obviously Juuzou, a well known zoo addict, disagrees. He's seen plenty of wolves while visiting the various zoos around Tokyo. They're big, but not Tiger big. But Dindu's determined to prove him wrong. And he knows exactly how..... 

Dindu stretches his arms towards the boy like a child would it's mother. Juuzou tilts his head at him, confused by the gesture. Did he want a hug or something? Nope."Piggy back me you transparent fuck!" 

Juuzou groans, not at the insult, he groans at the prospect of having to move off the comfortable couch and walk next to the boy who's sitting on the floor. Plus, Dindu weighs alot more The albino, and he knows that. "Can't you just walk on your hands?" Juuzou asks as a joke, but with a serious tone. The African boy doesn't reply and simply keeps his arms extended. "Fine...." 

The Afrikan boy smiles as the albino rolls lazily of the couch and crawls to where he's sitting, climbing on the smaller boys back. They've done this a few times by this point, and they both know the stand up is fifty fifty. 

"Help..." Juuzou says, and the Afrikan boy uses his one foot to push off the ground. Juuzou hooks his arms under the boys thighs, and Dindu wraps his arms around Juuzous shoulders as he pushes them off the ground. All Dindu does is point at the door, and Juuzou gallops towards it. 

once they're outside, Juuzou realizes he has no idea what they're doing, so he asks. 

"We're gonna howl." The boy says. And Juuzou doesn't even question it. Since Dindu was expecting him to show some for of curiosity, he was puzzled by the boys immediate acceptance. "Dontcha wanna know why?" 

"Because the wolf will howl back?" 

"_Fucking detective..." _

"What?" 

"I called you a smarty boy in Swahili. Do you wanna howl with me or not?" 

Juuzou doesn't think, he just throws his head back and howls and the Afrikan follows suit. Juuzou notices Dindus howl is much stronger then his usual voice, and try's his best to copy his tone. "Ahhooooooo!" They howl into the sun. 

They stop, and listen, hearing only the sounds of car engines running on the road near Kim's house. And then..... 

"Ahoooooooooo!" 

"Thats him!" Dindu yells in exitment, hurting Juuzou ear with his loud scream. Juuzou hisses and glares at the ground. 

"I'm setting you down. You're too heavy." Juuzou says. Dindu pouts and crouches down on the ground, howling into the sky again. "How do you know thats him and not just some dog?" 

"Because I know!" The boy growls. He likes Juuzou, but he hates the distrust he comes with. "Just stand there and get sunburned. I'm workin...." and he starts howling again. 

"I put on sunblock...." The albino mumbles. Why did Dindu have to bring up his skin? "You're racist." 

"You're like a fucking vampire." 

"There's Nothing wrong with being albino..." Juuzou pouts. "I was born like this, and I'm not ashamed in it." 

"Dude... its a joke not a dick. Don't take it so hard." Dindu says and Juuzous eyes widen. 

_A joke? _He thinks, struggling with the notion of someone playing with him. He doesn't get much time to think about it though.... 

"Fenrir!" The boy squeels and Juuzou jumps away from him. The wolf, gallops up the the one legged boy and licks his furiously, earning a hug around the neck. "I knew you'd never leave me!" 

"Th-thats a wolf?" Juuzou stutters, backing away from the huge canine. Dindu was eight! Irs massive! Bigger than any Wolf Juuzou has ever seen! "W0w! I've never seen a wolf like that." 

Indeed, the wolf was unique. Dindu had originally thought the wolf was of some ancient species, a Dire wolf infact, but it seems he was mistaken. Not only is Fenrir not a dire wolf, he's not even from earth, hailing instead from the lost planet of Doisac. He was worshipped as a god, and protect the Lydus tribe, Dindu's forgotten family. 

"He won't bite... unless I want him to." Dindu says, not affraid of thw massive wolf snuggling with him. "Come say hi Juu." 

Juuzou was tentative, not because he was afraid of the massive, power canine, but because HE didn't want to scare it. He let's the dog sniffs his hand, and notices Dindu watching with a certain anxiety before the dog licks Juuzou on the wrist, voicing his approval. 

"He likes you!" Dindu cheers, watching as the albino starts rubbing the wolf on the skull. "Alright.... Lets go." 

"Go?" Juuzou repeats l, watching as the boy climbs onto the wolfs back and wrapps his arms around it neck. Juuzou thought the wolf would be irritated by rhe boys weight, but it didn't seem to mind. "Go where?" 

"I wanna check on Molly." The boy says happily. He hasn't been to Kaneki's house to visit ever since Kim picked him up a week ago. "I miss her." 

"Oh? Thats all?" The albino accepts immediately. Dindu likes that about Juuzou, he's just as spontaneous. "Let me have a ride too!" He crys, straddling the canine and pressing himself against the boys back. 

"H-hey! Don't squeeze me so tight! I need to have my balance!" The Afrikan yells, letting the albino snake his arms around his chest. He's not sure how to feel about the contact, but he'll allow it. "Onwards Fenrir!" 

————————————————— 

You'd be surprised how little the good citizens of Tokyo noticed the albino and amputee riding the massive wolf. Only you wouldn't. Because everyone noticed. Initially, there were screams, followed by the flashing of camera phones. Then came the inquiries about the circus and if the trio belonged to one. Dindu was so scared by the crowd he hid his face in Juuzous chest, terrified by the flashes and prying eyes. They escaped when the wolf sped off through a alley, away from the main streets and leaving the crowd scratching their heads. 

Juuzou could feel the boy trembling against him, his head pressed tightly against his chest and his arms wrapped around his rib cage. He wasn't crying, not with tears anyways, but he was trembling to the point that Juuzou was worried he'd fall off the wolf. 

Juuzou didn't know what to do! He's never had to comfort anyone before. "Umm..." he says, unsure of what to do. "Are you okay?" 

"_I can see the flashes... the gunfire... the explosions." _

"I-I don't speak swahelli." The albino says. But the boy keeps talking, as if unaware that Juuzou couldn't understand him. That's when Juuzou was hit by a realization. Dindu was a soldier. Juuzou figured he was just an informant, remembering that he worked in a brothel to spy on some weapons dealer. But the flashes, the prying eyes of the crowd? Juuzou understands that completely, he's had to deal with it more then a few times himself. Plus ya know.... the missing leg. 

"Dindu.... did you know I was raised by Ghouls?" Juuzou admits. The boy snaps out of his daze and looks up at the boy, his blue eyes burning into Juuzou's red ones. "I was forced to kill and eat people. They even used me

as a sex slave." In truth, Juuzou doesn't know why he was telling the younger male any of this. It's not like it's any of his business.... but, for whatever reason, he actually WANTS to tell him. 

"I was abducted when I was four years old, and sold in a auction. My mama used to rent me out to other ghouls so they could... use me..... but eventually she decided to keep me to herself." 

"Is that why you're so weird?" The boy says, his lips curling into a smile. Juuzou chuckled. It was a joke? He thinks it was a joke. "That's okay, I've been called weird too." 

"Hmm?" Juuzou hums. Dindu's weird? Why would anyone think that? "What's so weird about you?" 

It's not like Dindu could tell him about the shape shifting, the camouflage, the cross dimensional travel, or the fact that he can shoot lightning from the invisible electromagnetic shield that surrounds his body. So he thinks of something simple. "I have one leg and a giant dog." 

————————————————— 

Dindu was glad that Juuzou didn't ask how Fenrir could possibly know where Kaneki lived, and truthful he didn't even know. So when Juuzou climbed off the wolf to walk up the steps to Kaneki's door, Dindu let out a sigh of relief. 

"Cmon! Stupid lock!" Juuzou says, using a couple bobby-pins to unlatch the doors locks, including the deadbolt, which he was having trouble with. "Bingo~" 

The door swung open and Molly charged out the door, stopping when she saw the massive wolf. The puppy locks eyes with the blue eyed beast, as if it was afraid to bark. 

"Easy Boy..." Dindu says, suddenly fearful. Fenrir has never met another dog before! Atleast as far as he can remember. "Don't even think about it." 

Fenrir seems to relax At Dindus command, his shoulders slumping slightly. The wolf stomps up the stairs, sniffing the pup, figuring out it nature as the boys watch with baited breath. They relax when the wolf picks the German shepherd up by the scruff of the neck, bringing her inside the apartment. 

"Ahhh!" A shrill scream rings out. And the wolf gives off a terrifying growl that raddles the walls. "Kaneki! There's some one legged fuck on a giant dog in your house!" The voice crys out before a door slams, Dindu couldn't see who it was but it was obviously not Ken. 

"Hide~" Juuzou hums like a spooky ass ghost, closings the door behind them. "We're here to eat you! Hide~" 

"Juuzou?...." The voice squeaks out, and a eye peaks out from Kaneki's bedroom. "Is that you? Juuzou?" 

"Duh! Now stop being a scaredy cat and say hello." Juuzou mocks, and a boy Dindu doesn't know shyly makes his way into the room, staring between him and Fenrir, who still had Molly in his mouth. "Um... Dindu?" 

"Spit her out Fenrir." 

The wolf listens, setting the pup down on the floor gently. It jumps around on the ground, wanting to play with the massive canine. 

"Good boy..." Dindu says, scratching the wolf behind the ear before rolling onto the floor, scooping the pup up in his arms. "Molly! I've missed you? Is ken feeding you too much? You've gotten heavier." The pup of course doesn't answer him, and instead licks him on the cheek, tail wagging furiously. 

"You wanna clue me in here Juuzou?" Hide says, still paralyzed in the hallway. The wolf is looking at him, and he has the same eyes Dindu has, if not more menacing. "He thinks I’m a scooby snack..." 

"Don't be a pussy and pet the wolf!" Dindu says, glaring up at the stranger. How dare he not pet the wolf! "He won't bite." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Does the pope shit in the woods?" 

"I.... I don't know." Hide mutters, stepping towards the Wolf carefully. "Good doggie. Nice doggie!" The dog sniffs Hide's hand like he did Juuzou's. 

Dindu tried his best to hide the smirk growing on his face, as a devious idea popped into his head. He silently filled his lungs with air before letting out a shril scream, one that made everyone in the room, including the dogs jump with surprise. 

"Aaaaahhahahahahahahaaha!" The boy laughs, pointing up At Hides face. His eyes are wide with fright and his mouths hanging open, he retracted his hand from the wolf when it jumped. "Look at his stupid face! He looks like his dick just got sucked into his body!" The boy crys out, rocking back and forth with the pup in his lap. 

Juuzou chuckles at Hide, earning a snarl from the orange haired boy. "Juuzou." Hide says. "Who is this boy?" 

"I don't know.... I found him on the way here." 

"You what!?" 

"He's kidding!" Dindu says, grinning at Juuzou over his shoulder. "The names Dindu, Im the one who found Molly." 

Hide just stares between the two of them. "Kaneki!" He screams looking over his shoulder into the bedroom. "Get out here!" 

Kaneki emerges from his room, rubbing a towl on his wet hair, fresh out of the shower. "Why are you yel... oh Juuzou, Dindu.... what is that?" 

"What is what?" 

"That! That dog!" Kaneki says, pointing to the massive wolf. "Juuzou.... did you steal this?" 

"Huh! Why do you assume I stole him!" Juuzou crys, guennuinly affended by the audacity of his brother. "Have I ever stolen a animal from the zoo? No? I didn't think so." 

"This is my wolf." Dindu says, resting his cheek against the black wolf's forehead. "His name is Fenrir, and he doesn't bite...." 

"Did YOU steal him Dindu?" 

"Oh yeah that's real nice Ken! Accuse the Nigga of stealing! REAL civil of ya." 

"That's not what I meant! You're not even black!" Ken says, as Juuzou holds in a chuckle. Ken squeezes his eyes shut, Rei on his own is bad. But Rei with a friend? Terrible. "Where did you get him?"

"Home?" 

"From your cousins?" 

"No..... from Afrika." The boy lies. It's not like he can tell the truth and say he brought him from another dimension. So Afrika will have to tide them over for now. But maybe he should elaborate a bit more. "He's the guardian of my tribe." 

Now Hide is curious. He realized immediately that Dindu was a foreigner, that was pretty obvious. But a tribal? He's never met one. "Tribe? What tribe?" He asks, watching as the boy sinks into himself. "Ah! If you're willing to discuss it of course!"

The boy thinks for a second. He doesn't really wanna talk about it. But he feels like maybe if he did... just a little, perhaps they'd understand why they shouldn't ask so many questions. 

He doesn't get the chance, because Juuzou talks first. "Dindu was a child soldier~" Juuzou says, leaning against the wall and pulling at the stitches on his arm. "At least that's what I think! We haven't really talked about it much." 

"Leave him alone you two." Kaneki says, looking down at the boy who was obviously uncomfortable. "Hey, Hide, weren't you playing a video game?" 

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Hide says, scooting by the wolf and jumping onto the couch, grabbing the Xbox controller on the table. "You coming Ken?" 

"Yeah...." Ken says, finally getting the chance to greet the wolf, the Afrikan, and his brother. "Hey Dindu? How you healing up?" 

"Healing up?" The boy repeats. _Oh, he means the gash on my chest! _The boy relises. "Im fine Ken, thanks." 

"Have you seen a docter?" 

He has not. But he lies and says he has. "Yeppers." He says unconvincingly. Kaneki knows he's lying, hell the dog probably knows he's lying, but neither of them pursued it. 

"Okay..." Kaneki said walking off to sit on the couch next to Hide, picking up a second controller. "What are you guys doing her anyways? I wasn't expecting to see you for atleast a week, Juuzou." 

"Well.... Dindu wanted to check on Molly." The albino says, cocking his head. "And it would be irresponsible of me to let him go alone." 

"He was being a lonely fish and came to see me. Then we go into a fight about the wolf. Now we're here." 

"Yep, that's what happened." 

"Uhuh." Ken mumbled not taking his eyes off the game. The truth was Ken was hoping to relax today, and maybe go out, have a good time. But it seems like he'd be babysitting his brother and his friend. He would do it of course, and he won't complain. So he just hides his disappointment. Atleast he has Hide to help.... 

"Soooooo~" Juuzou hums, already bored. "Watcha guys doing?" 

"Playing Left4Dead...." Ken says, glancing at his brother before turning back to the game. "Do you wanna play? We can take turns." 

"Nehh no thanks." 

"Ah, how about you Dindu?" 

"Umm... sure." The boy says, letting the pup out of his lap and crawling onto a chair, Juuzou sitting next to him. Ken hands his controller to the boy and he inspects it, looking at the trigers, sticks and multi colored buttons. "What kinda toy is this?" 

"It's a controller..." Hide says, holding up his own. "You move your character with it. And you can shoot with the right trigger and bash with the left one and..." 

He immediately regretted his decision to play, already bored with the game. He has to memorize things? This is gonna be terrible. 

"How about I just wing it?" The boy says in his usual Afrikan accent. "Im a catholic learner anyways." 

"Kinesthetic?" 

"Yeah that word." The boy says, and Hide unpauses the game. "So whats the objective?" He asks, messing with the sticks and buttons to watch his screen move, concluding he was on the top half of the television. 

"Kill the zombies and head to the safe house." Hide says, spinning his character around to get Dindu's attention. "Follow me!" 

Hides movements were much more precise Then Dindu's, obviously having more experience with the game. Dindu bumps into literally anything thats in his way, but Hides nice enough to wait for him. 

"Oh, zombies!" Hide crys, as his rifle lights up the screen with its automatic muzzle flashes. The limbs of the zombies spraying a low quality blood texture on the ground before the bodies fall to the ground. 

"Uh, shoot?" Dindu says, pressing the right trigger. The gun in his characters hands kick the camera up to simulate recoil. He quickly holds the stick down to account for the recoil, mowing down the zombies. 

"Ah! There you go, now you got it!" Hide cheers, looking to see the boys reaction. 

But the boy didn't react, didn't even move his head. He just stared wide eyed into the television, still pulling the trigger on the empty gun. The boys eyes Dilate and he throws the controller across the room, smashing a hole in the wall and making everyone jump. 

"Whoah! Dindu!" Ken screams in surprise and looks at the boy, bothehands on his ears and his eyes closed shut. Ken sees his brothers hand creeping towards the boy and he screams at him."Don't touch him Rei!" But it was too late, and Juuzou placed his hand on the boys shoulder, earning a startlingly strong elbow to the chest, knocking him to the ground. "Rei!" 

"Im fine~" Juuzou sings, not bothering to get up off the ground. "I think Dindu is going mental though." 

Hide racks his brain to figure out what set the boy off, and the only logical conclusion is the game. He gets up slowly, and makes his way to the console, pressing the glowing power button. They wait for the boy to calm down, watching as he brings his knees to his chest and rocks back and forth. "S-sorry..." the boy apologizes, his blue eyes fixated on the floor. "Im so sorry." 

"Neh, don't worry about it~" Juuzou says, kicking his feet around in the air. "It happens to me every once in a while too." 

"It's okay Dindu." 

"Yeah dude, don't worry about it." 

"I hit Juuzou..." the boy grumbles looking down at the albino boy next to his chair. "I didn't mean too." 

"We all hit Juuzou at some point." Hide says, giving the boy a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "It was inevitable." 

"So what did you see? Dindu~" Juuzou says, and Kaneki scolds him. "It might help to talk about it..." 

"I'd rather not..." 

"How about we play something else?" Hide says, looking through the games. "We got guitar hero..." 

"Kimmy told me you love singing." Juuzou says, picking at his stitches. "There's alot of songs in thats game." 

"Ah, That could be fun." 

————————————————— 

"You boys ready?" Hide asks, guitar controller in hand. "Juuzou?" The albino hits the drums with the drum sticks, signaling his ready...ness. 

"Ken?" He asks, and Kaneki simply hums in affirmation. "Dindu? Got the mic?" 

"Im all set!" The boy says, sitting ontop of the wolf.

"Gentlemen.... lets do this." Hide says with a giggle, pressing the confirm key and starting the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne song, Hellraiser. 

A heavy metal riff rings out, as the three boys hit their designated keys. Dindu waits for the lyrics to appear and starts to sing without his usual accent.

"I'm living on an endless road.

Around the world for rock and roll!

Sometimes it feels so tough

But I still ain't had enough! 

I keep saying that it's getting too much!But I know I'm a liar!

Feeling all right in the noise and the light

But that's what lights my fire!

Hellraiser, in the thunder and heat!

Hellraiser, rock you back in your seat!

Hellraiser, and I'll make it come true

Hellraiser, I'll put a spell on you!" The boy screams into the microphone, the beat of the song giving him a hallucinogenic effect, similar to one mushrooms would give a normal person.

"Walking out on another stage!

Another town, another place!

Sometimes I don't feel right

Nerves wound up too damn tight!

Don't you tell me it's bad for my health!But kicking back don't make it!

Out of control, I play the ultimate role!

Don't know how to make it!

Hellraiser, in the thunder and heat!

Hellraiser, rock you back in your seat!

Hellraiser, and I'll make it come true!

Hellraiser, I'll put a spell on you!" 

The boys hit there keys, letting the music hit them. It would be really fucking cool if they were in a real band!

"I'm living on an endless road!

Around the world for rock and roll!

Sometimes it feels so tough!

But I still ain't had enough!

I keep saying that it's getting too much! But I know I'm a liar!

Feeling all right in the noise and the light!But that's what lights my fire!

Hellraiser, in the thunder and heat!

Hellraiser, rock you back in your seat!

Hellraiser, and I'll make it come true!

Hellraiser, I'll put a spell on you!"


End file.
